Ahead of ‘Stir Up Sunday’ (22 November) we have a decadent Christmas pudding recipe with a Fairtrade twist from Miranda Gore Browne, cook, author and finalist on the first series of BBC’s The Great British Bake Off.
Stir Up Sunday – the last Sunday before Advent – is a day where families traditionally gather together to prepare the Christmas pudding. Usually, the pudding is prepared well in advance (five weeks before Christmas) and then reheated (and lit!) on Christmas Day itself. At Fairtrade, we appreciate that Christmas may not be the same as previous years, with many people unable to celebrate with their families. With this in mind we hope this recipe will remind you of family and friends, lift your spirits, and do right by Fairtrade farmers too.
So, as you stir it up in the kitchen make sure you #ChooseFairtrade where you can for your ingredients because the breadth of positive impact for farmers and their communities is far reaching.
Find out more about the Stir Up Sunday history
Ingredients
- 100g each of raisins, currants and sultanas
- 50g chopped mixed peel
- 1 tsp Fairtrade ground cinnamon (find out where to buy Fairtrade spices)
- 1 tsp Fairtrade mixed spice
- ½ tsp Fairtrade ground nutmeg
- 200ml stout
- 2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 25g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 250g Fairtrade dark brown soft sugar (find out where to buy Fairtrade sugar)
- 50g pecan nuts
- 25g glacé cherries, chopped
- 100g lightly shredded vegetable suet
- 2 medium eggs, beaten (choose free-range or Organic if you can)
- 50g plain flour
- 100g breadcrumbs
- 75g ready-to-eat dried figs, chopped
- 25g flaked almonds
Additional bakeware, tools, and utensils
- Heat proof pudding bowl/basin
- Trivet or inverted heatproof plate
- Food safe cooking bands/kitchen twine
Method
- Place the raisins, currants, sultanas, figs and 25g chopped mixed peel in a large bowl with the cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg, stout, Amaretto, orange zest and juice. Mix well, then cover and leave overnight in a cool place for the flavours to mature.
- Heat the butter with 25g sugar in a pan until melted. Stir in the remaining 25g peel, almonds, pecans and cherries, and arrange in the bottom of a greased 1.2 litre pudding basin.
- Stir the suet, eggs, flour, breadcrumbs and remaining 225g sugar into the bowl of soaked dried fruit and mix well. While you’re stirring make your wish for the year ahead and for an extra bit of luck, add a silver coin. Tip into the pudding basin and pack down tightly.
- Prepare a large steamer or alternatively place a trivet or inverted heatproof plate in a large lidded pan. Cut 2 x 70cm lengths of baking parchment and a piece of extra-wide foil (turkey foil is ideal). Place the baking parchment lengths on top of the foil, and place the pudding basin in the centre of the parchment. Wrap the pudding, with the foil on the outside. Secure with kitchen string, making a loop for easy removal.
- Place the pudding in the steamer or pan. Add boiling water, filling to halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover and steam for 6 hours, topping up the water regularly.
- Remove the pudding from the steamer and discard the foil and parchment. Allow to cool, then rewrap in baking parchment and foil, and store in a cool place for up to 2 months.
- To reheat, steam for 2 hours, or remove the foil and microwave for 5 minutes.
I thank Fairtrade here in Belize, it is something that […] has supported us a lot and thanks to those funds we were able to support our members to face the Covid-19 and right now with fertilizer and other aid that we are going to be able to give to the producers. we already see it as a great help and of course, any other type of support would be very welcome.
MANAGER OF COROZAL SUGAR CANE PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION (CSCPA), WHICH HAS 612 MEMBERS AND 240 SUGARCANE CUTTERS
Merry Christmas everyone!