Plum Pudding with Bourbon Hard Sauce

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy new year!

Good tidings we bring
To you and your kin.
Good tidings for Christmas,
And a happy new year!

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding,
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding,
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding,
And a cup of good cheer!

We won't go until we get some,
We won't go until we get some,
We won't go until we get some,
So bring some out here!

We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
We wish you a merry Christmas,
And a happy new year!

What better treat to end the year with than a classic Plum pudding!  This is not an old world recipe, requiring twenty plus hours of prep or that hard or track ingredient, suet.  Rather, this steamed bread and fruit dessert is a little less involved, but just as pleasant.  And the bourbon hard sauce may be just enough to coax the  carolers to move along...or perhaps enticing enough to encourage them to stay. 

adapted from the BHG Cookbook

serves 8-10

The Ingredients:

for the pudding

5 slices of wheat bread, tron into small pieces

2/3 cup evaporated milk

2 egg whites, slightly beaten

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup cooking oil

1/4 orange juice

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

12 oz pitted prunes, diced

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tsp apple pie spice (cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

for the hard sauce:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 Tbsp bourbon

"In half a minute Mrs Cratchit
entered--flushed, but smiling proudly--with the pudding,
like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half
of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with
Christmas holly stuck into the top."  

--Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol  

 

The Process:

In a large bowl, soak the bread in the evaporated milk for about three minutes or until the bread is softened.  Using a fork, stir the bread gently to break up the pieces.  Whisk in the egg whites, brown sugar, oil, orange juice, and vanilla.  Carefully fold in the prunes and walnuts.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the whole wheat flour, spice, baking soda and salt.  stir into the bread and prune mixture until just combined.  

Lightly oil or grease a 6 1/2 cup tower mold or bundt pan.  Pour the batter into the mold.  Cover with foil; press foil tightly against the mold's rim.

Place the mold on a rack in a deep kettle.  Add boiling water to a depth of about 1-inch.  Cover the kettle.  Bring water to a gentle boil and steam for 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the bundt pan, or 2 1/2 to 3 hours for the tower mold.  Add more boiling water as necessary.  The pudding is finished when a wooden pick or skewer inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean.

For the hard sauce, in a small bowl beat together butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture is well combined.  Beat in the bourbon.  Spoon into a serving bowl and set aside.

Remove the pudding mold from the kettle.  Cool the pudding for 10 minutes and remove from mold.  Serve warm with bourbon hard sauce.

The Review:

Pudding is a deceptive term...this is more of a spice cake.  But the pudding tradition is one of streaming bread based treats instead of baking. This particular pudding was dense, moist and full or spice and bits of fruit.

While it wasn't presented in all of the glistening glory of Mrs. Crachit's masterpiece, for the newbie pudding maker, and those tasting a steamed bread pudding for the first time, this version is a safe introduction.  Next year's maybe the more ambitious Christmas pudding...