What’s the easiest way to get into the holiday mood? Some pudding and mince pies, of course. And the more the merrier, so we’ve got three pudding recipes for you: a raspberry one with nougat, a plum one with walnut – and a gluten-free one with tapioca flour. For good measure, in case all those puddings haven’t filled you up yet, there’s a mince pie in there too.
Cook even just two of these up and you know your 2020 Christmas meal will be remembered until the next one.
Dig right in:
Raspberry and nougat ice-cream pudding
Prep + cook time 45 minutes (+ cooling & freezing)
Serves 8
Ingredients
1 cup (250ml) water
½ cup (110g) caster (superfine) sugar
300g frozen raspberries
1 litre (4 cups) good-quality vanilla ice-cream
100gm good-quality white chocolate, chopped finely
150gm firm almond nougat, chopped finely
100gm frozen raspberries, extra
¼ tsp copha, melted (or coconut oil)
100gm white chocolate, extra, melted
125gm fresh raspberries, to serve
Method
1. Lightly oil a 2-litre (8-cup) pudding basin; line with two layers of plastic wrap.
2. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan; stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. Cool.
3. Process frozen raspberries with the cooled syrup until a smooth sorbet is formed. Spoon sorbet into prepared pudding basin; press down with the back of a spoon to smooth the surface and ensure the sorbet is level. Freeze for at least 2 hours or until sorbet is firm.
4. Spoon ice-cream into a large bowl and allow to soften slightly. Add chocolate and nougat, then crumble extra frozen raspberries over the top; stir until just combined. Spoon ice-cream mixture over sorbet in pudding basin, pressing down to ensure the ice-cream fills all the spaces. Cover with plastic wrap; freeze for 6 hours or overnight.
5. To serve, turn ice-cream out onto a chilled serving plate (wipe the bowl over with a warm cloth, if needed) and remove plastic wrap.
6. Combine copha and extra melted chocolate in a jug. Pour over pudding. Serve topped with fresh raspberries.
Walnut plum puddings
Prep + cook time 45 minutes (+ standing)
Serves 6
Ingredients
3 small dark-skinned, red-fleshed plums (225g), quartered
125gm butter, softened
2/3 cup (150g) raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean extract
1 egg
2/3 cup (80g) finely chopped roasted walnuts
¾ cup (110g) self-raising flour
½ cup (140g) vanilla yoghurt
1/3 cup (35g) roasted walnuts, extra
Spiced plum syrup
5 small dark-skinned, red-fleshed plums (375g)
1/3 cup (80ml) light agave syrup
2/3 cup (160ml) water
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180° C/160° C fan. Grease a 6-hole (¾-cup/180ml) Texas muffin pan; line the bases with baking paper.
2. Blend or process plums until smooth; you will need ¾ cup puree. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl with an electric mixer for 2 minutes or until well combined. Add egg; beat until just combined. Fold in walnuts and sifted flour, then plum puree. Spoon mixture into pan holes.
3. Bake puddings for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Leave puddings in pan for 5 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.4 Meanwhile, make spiced plum syrup.
4. Spiced plum syrup: Cut 3 of the plums into wedges; reserve in a medium bowl. Coarsely chop remaining plums; place in a small saucepan with agave syrup, the water, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer, uncovered, for 8 minutes or until plums are pulpy and sauce is thickened slightly. Stand for 15 minutes; strain sauce over reserved plums.
5. Serve puddings warm or at room temperature with plum syrup, yoghurt and extra chopped walnuts.
Gluten-free steamed Christmas pudding
Prep + cook time 7 hours (+ standing overnight)
Serves 12
Ingredients
750gm (1½ pounds) dried mixed fruit
1 large green apple (200g), peeled, grated coarsely
½ cup (125ml) unfiltered apple cider
1 tbsp finely grated orange rind
2 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Dairy-free spread, for greasing
125gm (4 ounces) dairy-free spread
½ cup (110g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups (140g) stale gluten-free breadcrumbs
½ cup (65g) gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup (75g) tapioca flour
Method
1. Combine mixed fruit, apple, apple cider, rind, mixed spice and cinnamon in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap; stand at room temperature overnight.
2. Grease a 2-litre (8-cup) pudding basin or steamer. Line base with a small round of baking paper. Place a 30cm x 40cm (12-inch x 16-inch) piece of baking paper on top of a piece of foil cut to the same size; fold a 5cm (2-inch) pleat crossways through the centre.
3. Beat dairy-free spread and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until pale. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir egg mixture into fruit mixture. Add breadcrumbs and combined sifted flours; stir to combine. Spoon mixture into basin; top with the pleated baking paper and foil (this allows pudding to expand as it cooks); secure with kitchen string (or the lid).
4. Place an inverted saucer in the base of a large saucepan; place pudding basin on the saucer. Pour enough boiling water into the pan to come halfway up the side of the basin; cover with a tight-fitting lid. Boil pudding for six hours, replenishing with boiling water as necessary to maintain water level.
5. Remove pudding basin from water. Stand pudding for 10 minutes before turning out. If you like, serve topped with dried figs and drizzled with golden syrup.
Fruit mince pies
Prep + cook time 55 minutes (+ standing & refrigeration)
Makes 24
Ingredients
You will need to start the spiced fruit mince 3 days before.
2 cups (300g) plain (all-purpose) flour
150gm (4½ ounces) unsalted butter, chopped coarsely
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
1 egg, beaten lightly
1 tbsp iced water, approximately
1 egg, beaten lightly, extra
Spiced fruit mince
1 cup (160g) sultanas
1¼ cups (185g) raisins, chopped coarsely
¾ cup (120g) dried currants
¾ cup (110g) seeded dates, chopped coarsely
1 cup (170g) seeded prunes, chopped coarsely
1 small green apple (130g), peeled, grated
¼ cup (55g) brown sugar
2 tsp finely grated orange rind
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp plum jam
½ cup (80ml) apple juice
Method
1. Make spiced fruit mince. Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 3 days before using; stirring once a day.
2. Blend or process flour, butter, rind, oil and sugar until crumbly. Add egg and enough of the water to make ingredients cling together. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth. Cover pastry; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly grease two 12-hole (2 tablespoons/40ml) deep flat-based patty pan trays.
4. Roll two-thirds of the pastry between sheets of baking paper until 3mm (1/8-inch) thick. Cut 24 x 7.5cm (3-inch) rounds from pastry.
5. Place rounds into pan holes. Divide fruit mince among pastry cases. Roll remaining pastry between sheets of baking paper until 3mm (1/ 8-inch) thick. Cut 12 x 5cm (2-inch) rounds from remaining pastry. Cut small stars from each round. Top half the pies with the rounds; top remaining pies with the star cut-outs. Brush tops with extra beaten egg.
6. Bake for 25 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with sifted icing sugar, if you like.
- Recipes and photos courtesy of Camera Press
