A traditional British “plum pudding,” typically served on Christmas Day and New Years Day, is a concoction of raisins, candied fruit, nuts, spices, orange peel, lemon peel — and more goodies (but not necessarily any plums!). Traditional “pudds” are also likely to contain a sixpence (a no-longer-used British coin about the size of a silver dime). The person who finds the coin in his or her serving of pudding is in for a year of good luck. Given the cost of dentistry in the U.S., Pippa Hunnechurch feels it’s a good idea to warn her American friends that there’s hard currency in her puddings.
Most plum pudding recipes are complex family secrets, but the Hunnechurches, a hard working bunch, don’t have time to follow recipes that may stretch out over months (really!). And so, they use a simplified recipe that is quick to prepare. Pippa Hunnechurch makes more than a dozen each year and gives them as gifts to friends and clients.
The first thing you need to decide is what kind of container you will use to mold and steam your plum puddings. (As shown in the photo above, Ron and Janet Benrey use two-cup (500 ml) capacity Pyrex® glass utility bowls, the kind that come with plastic lids.)
The following recipe will make four puddings. Each pudding will serve upwards of four people (because plum pudding is quite rich, especially if you top it with Hard Sauce, described below).
Main Ingredients
- Self-rising flour — 1 cup
- Baking powder — 1 teaspoon
- Allspice — 1 hefty teaspoon
- Butter — 2 ounces, softened (plus an extra tablespoon to butter the utility bowls)
- Eggs — 2 large, beaten
- Dark molasses — 1/3 cup
- Irish stout, dark beer, or apple cider — 1/2 cup
- Brandy, dark rum, or rum flavoring (or more cider) — 2 tablespoons
- Mincemeat — 14 1/2 ounce jar
- Granny Smith apple — 1 large apple, peeled, cored, and diced
- Golden raisins — 6 ounces
- Roasted hazelnuts — 1 ounce, chopped
- Zest — of one orange and one lemon, grated
Preparation
Sift the flour, baking powder, and allspice together into a large mixing bowl, then add the butter and eggs. Stir well to mix the ingredients.
Next add the molasses and the stout/dark beer/cider. Stir again to mix everything together well.
Finally add the diced apple, nuts, raisins, and mincemeat, plus the grated orange and lemon zest. Stir once more until the mixture is uniform.
Spoon the mixture into buttered utility bowls. Fill each bowl approximately 3/4 full. Do not overfill; the puddings will rise when cooking and you don’t want to push the lids off.
Snap the plastic lids on the bowls. (If you don’t have lids, seal each bowl with aluminum foil. The idea is to prevent boiling water from splashing into the puddings.)
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Fill the shallow roasting pan with a half inch of boiling water. Place the bowls in the water “bath.” Bake for 45-50 minutes. Be sure that the water in the pan does not boil away completely; add more boiling water if necessary. An easy way to test for “doneness” is to lift the lid and stick a wooden toothpick into the heart of the pudding. The toothpick will come out clean when the pudding is fully cooked.
Allow the puddings to cool, then unmold them by turning the utility bowls upside down.
Wrap the puddings in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you are ready to serve them.
You can warm them prior to serving in a microwave oven, or by returning them to their utility bowls and re-steaming them in a water filled roasting pan for 10-15 minutes.
Pippa often follows the British tradition of serving her plum puddings with Hard Sauce (see below).
Hard Sauce
- Butter — 2/3 cup, softened
- Vanilla extract — 2 teaspoons
- Confectioners sugar — 2 cups
“Cream” the butter until light. Add the vanilla extract and confectioners sugar. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.