Christmas Carrot Pudding (Festive Steamed Recipe) - Around The Nook (2024)

FAQs

How long should I steam a Christmas pudding? ›

Boil or oven steam the puddings for 8 hrs, topping up with water as necessary. Remove from the pans and leave to cool overnight. When cold, discard the messy wrappings and re-wrap in new baking parchment, foil and string. Store in a cool, dry place until Christmas.

The pudding will not be particularly dark in colour after the first steaming but darkens on the second steaming. If you cooked the pudding in a slow cooker then sometimes the temperature isn't high enough to fully melt the suet and you should do the second steaming in the regular way.

If you or someone in your family is a vegetarian and doesn't want to eat suet, look for a recipe that uses butter or margarine instead, such as this recipe for individual Christmas puddings.

For the pudding, the most likely cause of mould is moisture.

Resist lifting the lid of the steaming pan for the first 30 minutes; like baking a cake, the drop in temperature could cause the pudding to collapse. However after this time, do check on the pudding regularly to make sure that the pan does not boil dry.

Check the pudding is cooked by inserting a skewer through the foil and parchment lid into the centre of the pudding. If the skewer still has some wet mixture on it, return the pudding to the steamer for a further 15-20 mins, then check again.

-Lay a sheet of aluminium foil over a sheet of greaseproof paper (these need to be large enough to wrap generously around the pudding bowl). Pick up both and fold a vertical pleat down the centre. Wrap the pudding bowl in the foil and paper, positioning the pleat down the centre of the mouth of the bowl.

Then you would be able to insert a skewer to test if the sponge is cooked fully, i.e. the skewer should come out clean when inserted into the centre of the sponge. If it is not ready then put a piece of foil or clingfilm over the top and steam for a further 15 to 30 minutes.

Although they will be ready to eat after 4 – 5 hours they will continue to darken if you steam them for longer. You can steam them over two sessions.

Vegetable shortening: Vegetable shortening has a mild flavor like suet and hardens in the refrigerator, making it simple to shred and add to foods that call for shredded suet. Shortening consists of sunflower oil, palm oil, and wheat flour, which create a similar, crumbly texture to suet.

What can I use instead of suet in my Christmas pudding? ›

Our answer

It is possible to make Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding using vegetable shortening (such as Crisco, Trex, Flora White, Cookeen or Copha) instead of suet (which is made from beef fat).

Outside the UK suet can be difficult to find and vegetable shortening is the best alternative. The same weight should be used - 150g and for the US it is 14 tablespoons. As shortening is quite soft it is best to freeze it overnight before grating.

Completely fine. I always buy my Christmas puddings in the January sales! I think we ate one that was 8 years out of date once. Slightly shrivelled but soon plumped up again with lashings of Brandy!

Any pudding using fresh fruit for moisture will go off more quickly, whereas a Christmas pudding soaked in booze with high sugar and dried fruit content will last much longer. Some Christmas puddings, made with dried fruit in the traditional way, are fine to be eaten as much as two years after they were made.

So, as long as it's unopened, your pudding will keep for two years after the production date, which you'll find on the outside packaging.

Place an upturned saucer in the base of a large saucepan. Place the basin on top then pour in enough boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the basin. Place over medium-low heat and cook, covered, for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

For these basins we suggest steaming initially for 3 hours, and then for a further 3 hours before eating. As steaming is a very gentle form of cooking it is difficult to overcook the puddings, so the same steaming time for both size basins is fine.

Reheating Christmas Puddings

Wrap in foil and reheat at 300ºF (150ºC) for an hour or until hot. To reheat on the stovetop, remove wrappings and place the pudding in the original mould. Cover tightly. Set pudding mould on a trivet in a large saucepan and steam 3/4 - 1 hour or until hot.