Looking for an egg free, dairy free, and more importantly vegan friendly Christmas pudding recipe? Read on for more details…
It’s ‘Stir up Sunday’ soon, which is traditionally the day when Christmas puddings are made at home. In anticipation of this, John Lewis kindly invited myself and a group of other bloggers to Waitrose Cookery School to learn how to make our own Christmas puddings – mine being vegan, of course. We also had a delicious Christmas themed meal, and learnt how to make a delicious Winter Negroni cocktail – more on those to follow!
What is Stir-up Sunday?
The ‘Stir up Sunday’ name comes from religious roots – the beginning of the collect for the last Sunday before Advent actually says:
“Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people”
And although many of us are now less religious (or like me, not religious at all), there is still a tradition associated with this day – namely that it’s now the traditional day when people make their Christmas puddings, adding another tilt to the meaning of stirring up!
When is Stir-up Sunday?
Stir-up Sunday 2017 is on Sunday 26th November.
Christmas Pud – a British Tradition
Here in the UK, Christmas Pudding is synonymous with the festive season. The combination of fruit, spices, and alcohol, make a rich, decadent end to a feast meal, particularly if you choose to serve the pudding with cream, ice cream, or custard (let me know in the comments how you prefer yours to be serve, and let me know how you think I prefer to eat mine 😉). Leaving the pudding to mature for a few weeks really adds to the taste – and of course, the added alcohol acts as a form of preservation.
Of course, you can buy vegan friendly Christmas puddings, however, it’s so much nicer to make your own if you can – and these make great gifts on their own or added to hampers.
In anticipation of Stir-up Sunday, we bloggers had a go at making our own Christmas puddings – we were split into three groups; vegan, gluten free, and traditional, and then into pairs – I worked with the super lovely Tomi, who writes The Vegan Nigerian.
The vegan group made the recipe I share below – making the pudding was actually a lot simpler than I thought it would be, since I’ve heard stories of it taking a LONG time to make Christmas pudding. These small, personal sized puds make it super quick and easy to make, and you can save any extras for later, rather than wasting a big pudding. We used cute, reusable mini pudding moulds* – you can get a wide range of different moulds and pudding basins* from John Lewis if they don’t fit your personal needs, however.
Vegan Christmas Pudding Recipe
Here’s the recipe to the delicious vegan Christmas pudding we made at the event, for those of you who’d like to make sure their egg free, dairy free, festive feast does not go without:
- Prep Time:25m
- Cook Time:50m
- Total Time:1h 15m
- Yield: 4 puddings
- Category: Christmas
Ingredients
- 25 grams dairy free spread
- 55 millilitres stout
- 40 millilitres black treacle
- 25 grams coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 60 grams self-raising flour
- 1 tablespoon milled/ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon dark rum (I like Mount Gay)
- 1 finely grated zest of an unwaxed lemon
- 40 grams peeled, cored and coarsely grated bramley apple, mixed with lemon juice
- 10 grams blanched almonds, roasted and chopped
- 75 grams currants
- 20 grams mixed peel
- 20 grams dried or glace cherries
- 200 grams mincemeat (vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4.
- Grease 4 mini pudding basins and 4 small circles of baking parchment with the dairy free spread and set aside.
- Mix the flaxseed with 3 tablespoons cold water and set aside for at least ten minutes or until it becomes jelly-like and makes ‘flax-egg’.
- Sift the self-raising flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves into a medium mixing bowl, then add the “flax-egg”and the melted coconut oil.
- Mix the treacle with the stout and rum in a measuring jug.
- Pour mixture into the bowl and whisk everything together thoroughly.
- Stir in the lemon zest, apple, almonds, currants, peel, cherries and mincemeat.
- Divide the mixture between the prepared basins and top each one with a circle of greased parchment.
- Wrap each basin in an 18cm square of foil and fold under the edges of the basins.
- Place the basins into a roasting tin and pour in enough boiling water to come 2.5cm up the sides of the basins.
- Carefully place the tin in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the puddings are springy and firm to the touch in the centre.
- Remove from the oven, unwrap, remove the parchment and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
- Carefully run a small knife around each one and turn out onto warm serving plates.
Thank you to John Lewis for inviting me to the event, I had such a lovely time!
Will you be making your own Christmas pudding this year?
What do you like to eat your Christmas pudding with? Custard? Cream? Ice Cream? Or on it’s own?
Let me know in the comments below!
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