Rather than buying a single serving Gluten Free Christmas Pudding, why not make one everyone can enjoy?
Before finding out about my gluten intolerance I have made Christmas puddings for family and friends. I wanted to do that again this year. The biggest hurdle I had was finding a gluten free alternative to suet, which is a vital ingredient in this type of pudding. After some searching I found one shop selling gluten free suet; Morrisons.
I followed Nigella’s Ultimate Christmas Pudding recipe but made a few tweaks, obviously making it gluten free, but also soaking the fruit in rum rather than Pedro Ximénez. Rum is one of our favourite liqueurs, but mostly because we don’t have Pedro Ximénez in the alcohol cabinet! Nigella’s recipe uses a steamer however I used a 5 litre ‘high-dome’ pressure cooker which is much quicker for cooking.
| Prep Time | 1 hour |
| Cook Time | 3 hours |
| Passive Time | 1 week |
| Servings |
people
|
- 150 g Sultanas
- 150 g Raisins
- 175 mL Rum
- 100 g Gluten Free Plain Flour
- 125 g Gluten Free Breadcrumbs
- 150 g Gluten Free Suet
- 150 g Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 Grated Lemon Zest
- 3 Large Eggs
- 1 Medium Cooking apple peeled and grated
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 125 mL Vodka to flame the pudding
Ingredients
|
|
- This pudding would either make a large pudding - 1.7 litre/3 pint/1½ quart heatproof plastic pudding basin with a lid or few small puddings - a 2 pint/1 quart one and a 1 pint/½ quart one.
- Put the currants, sultanas and raisins into a bowl with the rum, swill the bowl a bit, then cover. I used a tupperware with a lid. Leave at room temperature to steep overnight or for up to 1 week.
- Once the fruit is steeped. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the remaining pudding ingredients (except the vodka).
- Add the steeped fruits to the mixing bowl and mix to combine thoroughly,
- Grease your chosen pudding bowls
- Press the mixture into the pudding basin(s) and put on the lid. Then wrap with a layer of foil so that the basin is watertight. If you are using a ceramic pudding dish (like in my pictures) I would put a layer of greaseproof paper over the pudding and then a layer of tinfoil as the basin won't have come with a lid
- For the pressure cooker: Place the trivet and the basket in the base of the pressure cooker and place the bowl in the basket. Fill the pressure cooker with cold water to approximately 20mm below the top of the bowl. Secure the pressure cooker lid and bring to pressure on the hob. Once pressure is reached, apply the 5lb weight (or maintain 5lb pressure) for 2.5hrs
- In a steamer: either put the basin in the pan of boiling water (to come halfway up the basin) or in the top of a lidded steamer (this size of basin happens to fit perfectly in the top of my all-purpose pot) and steam for 5 hours, checking every now and again that the water hasn't evaporated
- Once cooked replace the greaseproof and tinfoil lid and store in a cupboard until Christmas Day
- Pressure cooker: re-streamed using the above method (covering again with foil) for 30 mins
- Nigellas steaming method: rewrap the pudding (still in its basin) in foil and steam again, this time for 3 hours.
- Microwave: Cut the pudding into individual portions and heat on full power for 1 minute at a time until heated thoroughly. They might need a splash of water if looking dry. If you're wanting the pudding as a centre piece on the middle of the table then this isn't the best method as you will have already cut it up before heating.
- Heat the vodka in a small pan once it’s hot, but not boiling turn off the heat, pour the hot vodka over the pudding and then light the pudding.
Remember to put some folds into your greaseproof paper and tin foil hats for the Christmas Puddings; you can see the folds in the picture below. Also be sure to tie it nice and tight so they don't get exposed to the air and go bad!
Merry Christmas!