Christmas Pudding/Cake for Presents

tiredanddesperate

Hello Everyone

Money being very tight this year I am wondering about making presents for members of our family. I have been experimenting with truffles and fudge this week and have enjoyed it very much .... too much, really:o

Does anyone have an easy Christmas Cake or Christmas Pudding recipe they can share with me?

I've really enjoyed starting to cook from scratch & budget my meals (Sunday roast leftover stew today!! Yum!) & I think I would enjoy trying my hand at a cake or pudding. Only problem might be the testing stage between now & Christmas (I'll be as big as a house & totally sick of puddings by then I think )

Any help would be very much appreciated.:T

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scaredy_cat

i've made 2 of Delia's cakes this year - http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/the-classic-christmas-cake,1293,RC.html

these keep well especially if you feed them!!:beer:

Last year i made them in nove and didn't get round to giving one to my frind until March, she said it was lovely and moist!

tiredanddesperate

Thanks scaredy cat

I'll give it a look & pluck up the courage to try it. It might end up costing me a fortune as I have very little in the way of cooking utensils, pots, pans, tins etc etc. I usually muddle through somehow!

Petlamb

if you're making puddings anyway, these could be nice little gifts if put into a gift bag? (got the recipe off someone on another forum)

christmas pudding bonbons: (like truffles)

175g dark chocolate
350g cooked and cooled xmas pudding
tablespoon golden syrup
60ml sherry
100g white chocolate
vermicelli/glace cherries to decorate- I used writing icing instead.

melt the dark choc over simmering water.
crumble the xmas pudding into a bowl, add sherry and syrup and mix until it is a thick consistency. Add the chocolate and mix in until it is a thicker, malleable consistency.
Using plastic/vinyl/latex gloves take small chunks of the mixture and roll into balls (about big enough for petit fours cases). The mixture should make about 30 balls. Place them on greaseproof paper on a large tray. Chill for 30 mins until firm.

Melt the white choc and using a teaspoon dollop onto the balls.

When set, decorate with vermicelli and glace cherries cut into holly shapes, or with writing icing. (to look like mini puds!)

tiredanddesperate

They sound great VA.

I wasn't going to make puddings anyway - just for presents, but I might now do both because those mini puds sound lovely. I'm just worried about whether the puddings will turn out OK, because I won't be able to tell until after I've given them as presents, IYSWIM.

It might be that they will become family folklore as the worst puddings/christmas presents in history, only for the story to be paraded out each Christmas......
do you remember Notso's lead-weight/bone-dry/rock-hard/sickly-sweet puddings??? (delete as applicable)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

In_Search_Of_Me

Just a quickie to say a friend of mine made lots of mini christmas cakes and just used the pans from those jam roly poly/choc pud in a can cans...may be a cheap way of getting some "utensils" while enjoying yet more pudding?!!

tiredanddesperate

Another great idea from OS MSE's

I shall trot along to Mr T to have a look at the types on offer & test the ones that look the most suitable size-all in the interests of research, obviously

CRANKY40

tiredanddesperate wrote: »

It might be that they will become family folklore as the worst puddings/christmas presents in history, only for the story to be paraded out each Christmas......
do you remember Notso's lead-weight/bone-dry/rock-hard/sickly-sweet puddings??? (delete as applicable)

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

My sister made the family christmas cakes one year as she couldn't afford presents. It cost my dad a fortune as she managed to persuade him to buy the ingredients, and we lost a fork in the cake making process. None of the recipients owned up to receiving the fork, which makes you wonder if they actually ate the end product.....

Good luck with yours. Empty baked bean tins make good mini cake tins if lined properly by the way.

full-time-mum

tiredanddesperate wrote: »

Only problem might be the testing stage between now & Christmas (I'll be as big as a house & totally sick of puddings by then I think )

How about making a bit extra mixture and doing a couple of individual size ones so 'to test' between now and Xmas? You'll then be able to judge how well they have matured!

This is my tried and tested pud mix....

7oz Marg
12oz currants
8oz raisins
8oz sultanas
2oz mixed peel
1oz blancehed almonds, chopped
6oz plain flour
2 heaped teaspoons mixed spice
1 rounded teaspoon nutmeg
6oz breadcrumbs
7oz soft brown sugar - I prefer darker the better
2 eggs, beaten
rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon black treacle
4 tablespoons beer or milk
2 tablespoons brandy (optional )

The recipe states that you just bung it all in and beat with a wooden spoon for 3 - 5 mins.

However, I find it easier to cream the marg and sugar, beat in the eggs and then fold in the flour and liquid before mixing in the dried fruit in batches.

I also

• soak my fruit overnight in whatever alcohol is available - beer/brandy/cider/wine
• use wheat-free flour and omit the nuts
• use different ratios of dried fruit (I'm not keen on large lumps of mixed peel) - this year I started with a luxury mixed fruit pack - reduced of course - which contained apricots. I also added some cranberries too.You need to stay roughly within the total 30oz fruit. I guess plums and figs would also work.

Put into greased pudding baisins, cover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil. Tie tightly with string (not coloured) and steam in a covered saucepan. A 2 pint pud needs about 6 hours and a 1 pint around 4.

On Xmas day, they need another 2 - 3 hours steaming. We tend to do them before putting the veg on, leave them in a pan of hot water then either reboil whilst eating the turkey or just zap up to very hot in the micro.

Roughly:
1 1/2 times the above makes 1 x 2 pint, 1 x 1 1/2 pint, 1 x 1 pint and 1 x individual
2 x the mix makes 1 x 2 pint, 2 x 1 1/2 pint and 1 x 1 pint

I was given a tip this year. Hold onto the squeezed lemon halves and pop them in your saucepan to prevent those horrid white water marks.

Other hints

• Set a timer to go off every 30mins to remind you to top up the water (no more than half way up the sides of the pudding baisin) Always add boiling water.
• Stand plastic baisins on a saucer so that they don't melt onto the pan if you accidently boil them dry.
• Tie a string handle onto the baisins for ease of lifting out or use a long piece of foil folded several times for strength ( a bit like those pesky bits of ribbons you sometimes find in battery compartments)

rosemarb

Last year for the first time I gave each one of my children's family's a homemade hamper containing Pate,Cake, Puds, Jams and Chutney. It was voted the best pressie and it must be so because they have actually asked for another this year!!!!!

nuttyrockeress

i am still thinking of making mini Christmas cakes with 200grm bean tins.

Does anyone have any idea how high I fill these too and how many it would make if i use Delia's recipie?