This was my Great Grandmother’s recipe, and I am honoured to continue the tradition of making it for my family every year. I hope that one day, my children will continue this tradition.
As a child, on Christmas Day, we went to Gramma Katie’s farm, and she had always made the most beautiful meal, complete with about six desserts including this one. As children, we were never really all that fond of the pudding, but we did like the brown sugar sauce and ice cream which Gramma served with it! Nowadays, my husband and I practically fight over the left over pudding! It really is a special Christmas treat!
Traditional Christmas Pudding (Also called Carrot Pudding)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Raisins
1 cup Dates
1 cup Currants
1 cup Margarine* (scant — just under 1 cup)
1 cup Shredded Carrot
1 cup Grated Potato
1 1/4 cups Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 pinch Salt
* Traditionally Suet would have been used instead of Margarine
Directions
Mix all the ingredients together in large bowl
Cover the bowl with tinfoil
Steam for 3 hours**
** To steam the pudding, you can use a large pot with a small amount of water in the bottom. We use an inverted pyrex bowl in the bottom of the pot to keep the bowl with the pudding above the level of the water. Cover the pot, and cook on medium heat (keep water to a low boil) Make sure you continue to carefully add small amounts of water to the pot so that it doesn’t boil dry over the 3 hours steaming time.
Serve with a Brown Sugar Sauce or Custard.
The recipe sounds lovely and relatively easy…even I can do that! Do you also have a recipe for Brown Sugar Sauce? or custard?
Thank you!
Have a great day!
Glenda
do you have the recipe for the brown sugar sauce?
Basically, you just melt butter and brown sugar over medium heat in a sauce pan, and let it “caramelize” then add water, and let it sort of thicken stirring it often so it doesn’t scald. I am sorry, this is a really basic description of how to do it, but I don’t make the sauce very often..I let my Mom do that part
My husband also likes to have his pudding with Devon Custard on it. I think this is the “British way” of serving Christmas Pud!
Personally, I like mine with ice cream on it and Brown Sugar Sauce! Really good, and of course, calorie free
The only thing that’s missing is alcohol - a traditional Christmas pudding would have both brandy and some sort of Stout (such as Guinness).
In the UK generally you’d eat Christmas Pudding with either Whipped Cream (sometimes flavoured with whiskey or brandy) or Brandy Butter which is a fairly hard butter with lots of brandy! Personally I think that cold, whipped cream contrast beautifully with the rich, alcoholic taste of the pudding (no actual alcohol left as it’s cooked off).