Rock Rose Gin Christmas Pudding with Gin Butter

Rock Rose Gin Christmas Pudding

by Mike Denman

This is the recipe for making the whole pudding from scratch, it makes three so save one for next year and give one to a deserving friend (or eat it on Boxing Day or at New Year!). You could easily buy a good quality pudding and poke it with skewer holes and ‘feed’ it with gin – try to do this as far in advance of Christmas Day as possible. Flaming the puddings with gin is a great alternative to using brandy, the juniper flavour works really well with the dried fruit.

Ingredients

200g plain flour

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp mace

1tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground allspice

200g sultanas

200g raisins

200g currants

225g pitted ready-to-eat Agen prunes

225g dried figs, roughly chopped

225g stoned dates

450g molasses sugar

110g shelled brazil nuts, chopped

110g pecans, chopped

200g brown breadcrumbs

2 crisp eating apples, grated

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

170g suet

6 eggs, beaten

3-4tbsp milk

1 orange, juice and grated zest

100ml Rock Rose Gin

200ml Guinness

Method

Butter 3 x 600ml pudding basins
Sift the flour into a very large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until everything is fully combined.
Fill the pudding basins to 3/4s full. Cover with a layer of greaseproof paper and put a pleated layer of foil on top; this will allow the pudding to rise. Tie securely with kitchen string.
Place the puddings in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan or casserole dish on a trivet or a layer of foil. You may need to use more than one pan. Fill the pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the puddings. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Cook at a gentle simmer for 6-7 hours, topping up with water every couple of hours if needed.
Take the puddings out of the water, remove the foil and greaseproof and leave to cool. Cover the puddings with fresh greaseproof and foil and store until ready to use. If you have made the puddings in advance, they may be fed with extra gin through skewer holes.
Before serving on Christmas Day, the puddings should be steamed for a further 2-3 hours. And then set alight with more gin, which you have gently warmed on the stove, lit with a match and then poured over the pudding.

Don’t forget to serve with our Rock Rose Gin Butter! (See next post)