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

FAQs

Is it better to boil or steam Christmas pudding? ›

Ideally we would suggest that when the pudding is made it is steamed for 8 hours (the combined time of the first and second steamings) as the steaming is important for the flavour of the pudding. The pudding can then be microwaved to reheat it on Christmas Day.

You can steam them over two sessions.

Aside from the traditional method in a saucepan, there are lots of ways to steam a pudding. You can use a pressure cooker, microwave or bake in the oven in a water bath.

A Christmas pudding is quite a dense mixture and needs long gentle cooking to prevent the outside burning before the inside is cooked. The same theory holds for reheating a pudding as it will take some time for the pudding to heat right through to the centre.

After you have steamed and cooled your pudding, replace the foil with a freshly buttered piece to keep it moist and store in a cool, dark place, or the fridge, until you are ready to reheat it on Christmas day.

Yes! With the right recipe, you can save heaps of time and effort by cooking your pudding in the microwave. Cooking traditional Christmas puddings involves hours and hours of boiling (at least 6 hours, and sometimes much more), which not everyone has time for in the busy festive season.

Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and boil over medium-high heat, adding more boiling water to the saucepan when necessary, for 1 hour. Invert onto a serving plate and serve with brandy butter.

As for all puddings, it should be stored in a cool, dry place until Christmas Day. For the US our preference would be to use Pyrex mixing bowls for steaming Christmas puddings.

To test if the pudding's cooked, pierce the foil and paper with a skewer and wiggle it to make the hole bigger, or it will be wiped clean of any mixture when you pull it out.

The pudding should be stored in a cool, dark and dry place. If the pudding is in a warm and humid environment (such as a steamy kitchen) then there is a risk that some mould will develop on the pudding. If you live in a warm or humid climate then it may be better to store the pudding in the fridge or to freeze it.

How do you wrap Christmas pudding before steaming? ›

Brush the parchment with melted butter to stop it sticking. Fold a pleat in the centre of the foil and parchment to give the pudding room to expand as it cooks. Tie the foil onto the basin with string; wrap it twice to keep it tight. Use the remaining string to create a handle over the top of the pudding.

Can you over-steam a Christmas pudding? While the pudding won't dry out if it's steamed for too long, some of the ingredients inside may be spoiled by being overcooked.

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. "Bear in mind if the pudding is alcohol-free, of course, it will last a good while with the sugar content, but it will not last as long without alcohol to preserve it," stresses Juliet.

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.

If water has entered the wrapped pudding basin then it is likely that the pan was boiling a little too hard, and may also have been too full of water, meaning the water came up and over the top of the pudding basin which makes it easier for water to enter.

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.