Champagne Christmas Pudding

When Liberty introduced a champagne Christmas pudding a few years ago I was very excited as I find the normal recipe to be quite unbalanced with an overpowering taste of brandy.   My only concern was that there would be dissent from the hungry hordes on Christmas day but au contraire - everyone loved it!  As such, I decided to create my own suet free version and here it is. 

I recommend using a good bottle of champagne for this recipe because you only need 5 tablespoons in the pudding and the rest of the bottle is left for you to drink.  We use "the cooking of the puddings" (and the strategically leftover champagne) to celebrate the start of the run up to Christmas - a tradition that I intend to continue.

One big bonus about this recipe is that you don't have to make it months in advance.  Steve and I generally make two puddings in November; one to eat on Christmas day and another (smaller one) to eat immediately - well we have to perform a quality control check!

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

• 130 grams glace cherries - chopped
• 100 grams prunes - chopped
• 100 grams dried apricots - chopped
• 100 grams dried cranberries
• 100 grams sultanas
• 5 tablespoons champagne
• The zest and juice of two oranges
• 75 grams fresh white breadcrumbs
• 75 grams plain flour
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 50 grams chopped almonds
• 200 grams light brown sugar
• 100 grams butter - at room temperature
• 2 large eggs - beaten

Method

1. Place the cherries, prunes, apricots, cranberries, sultanas, champagne, orange zest and orange juice in a large bowl and stir well.  Cover and leave to steep overnight.
2. The next day, mix the breadcrumbs, flour, spice, almonds, sugar, butter and eggs.
3. Combine the mixture with the steeped fruit and mix well.
4. Place the mixture in a 1.2 litre pudding basin.  Take a piece of greaseproof paper and place a single pleat in the middle of it so that it has room to expand while the pudding cooks.  Cover the pudding with the greaseproof paper and then place the lid on the basin.  I use a plastic basin so that I can put it in the microwave to reheat it on Christmas day - much less hassle than steaming it.
5. Place the pudding basin on a trivet in a large pan.  Fill with boiling water so that the water covers two-thirds of the basin.  Steam for eight hours, checking the water level regularly and topping up as required to prevent it from boiling dry.
6. The longest that we have kept the pudding is two months - and it was absolutely fine.  It will probably keep longer but why keep it when you can eat it?  When you reheat it,  3-5 minutes on your highest microwave setting should do the trick.  Otherwise, steam it for another three hours.  Whichever method you use make sure it is piping hot before serving.
7. Serve with cream, ice cream (stem ginger works particularly well) or custard.  I don't recommend brandy butter as it will overpower the flavour of the champagne.