Christmas pud question - slightly urgent!

soba

Hi guys, not been on for ages - new job unfortunately has put paid to internet time! However, I've got a quick question. I've made my first ever Christmas pud today - hope it's not too early or late! and I've got some mixture left over so I've made a small pud in a wide coffee cup. The mixture weighs about 8oz, and I'm wondering how long to steam it for? The large pud is 1 1/2litres and needs to steam for 6 hours.
Also, when the small pud is cooked, does it need to stand for a few weeks, or would we be ale to reheat it and have it after tea tomorrow?
Thanks guys, I know you'll have the answer.
soba

Seakay

Delia says:

"if you want to make individual Christmas puddings for gifts, this quantity makes eight 6 oz (175 g) small metal pudding basins. Steam them for 3 hours, then re-steam for 1 hour."

That is from this page: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/traditional-christmas-pudding,1234,RC.html

I don't see why you shouldn't eat it straight away. Puddings are supposed to keep well, but I've not heard about them maturing, in the same way that you do about Christmas cakes which have extra alchohol added later. Even if they do improve with time, that is not to say that it wouldn't be perfectly nice to eat straight away.

If you have no foil covering your little pudding, why not save yourself some time and condensation and use the microwave for the second cooking? These instructions are from the BBC site and are for a 2lb pudding:

On the big day the pudding should be steamed for about 1½-2 hours, or covered loosely and heated in the microwave for about 6 minutes on high power, checking its progress every so often by inserting a skewer into the centre and leaving for a couple of seconds. If the skewer comes out piping hot, the pudding is ready to eat after standing for 1 minute

Going by this guide, I would say that you should try one and a half minutes, then skewer test, then 30 seconds - 1 minute more if necessary.

soba

Thanks for that Seakay. The puddings are steaming away now, but the rattling of the pudding basin on top of a saucer is doing my head in!