Individual Steam Oven Christmas Puddings

individual christmas pudding with custard

4.72 from 7 votes

Individual Steam Oven Christmas Puddings

Steamed Christmas puddings are a British classic. These small versions have the same traditional fruity taste but cook faster. They make a pretty dessert or a lovely food gift.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 30

Soaking Time1

Total Time1 2

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Australian, English

Keyword: Christmas pudding with fig, apricot and orange, steamed christmas pudding, steamed pudding

Servings: puddings

Calories: 590kcal

Ingredients

1.75 lb mixed dried fruit (see note), chopped into pea-sized pieces
4 oz almonds chopped
¼ cup brandy (or other alcohol of choice, see note in post)
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 ¼ cups brown sugar firmly packed
1 orange zested and juiced
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour plain flour
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
2 cups breadcrumbs from fresh white bread, lightly packed

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

A day before you want to cook the puddings: put the fruit and almonds into a bowl and pour the brandy over the top, mixing to coat everything with the alcohol. Cover and leave overnight.
1.75 lb mixed dried fruit, 4 oz almonds, ¼ cup brandy
The next day, grease a 12 hole standard muffin pan. Line the base of each greased muffin hole with a small piece of parchment paper and set aside. If you have small individual metal or ceramic molds feel free to use those instead.
Cream the butter, sugar, orange rind and juice until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate each one before adding the next. If the mixture curdles when the last couple of eggs are added don’t worry.
1 cup unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cups brown sugar, 1 orange, 4 eggs
Add the flour and spices to the butter mixture and mix just to combine, then add the breadcrumbs and soaked fruit and mix until well combined.
1 cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, ¼ tsp ground nutmeg, 2 cups breadcrumbs
Divide the mixture evenly into the prepared pan, then cover the puddings with parchment paper to fit (you’ll need a single large piece of paper for a muffin pan, or single pieces for individual molds).
Put the puddings into your steam oven and set to 212°F/100°C, steam only (100% humidity). Cook for 1 ½ hours, then remove and cool puddings before turning out of the pan.
Store the puddings wrapped in wax paper inside an airtight container, in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. Brush with extra brandy every few days during this time (optional). If you’d like to store them longer, freeze the puddings until the day of serving.Reheat puddings at 212°F/100°C, steam only (100% humidity) for 30 minutes (45 minutes from frozen). Serve with brandy butter or custard.

Notes

You’ll need to soak the fruit and nuts overnight before making your puddings. Ideally, puddings should be cooked and then aged in the fridge (or a cool pantry, if you live somewhere cold) for a few weeks, but they’ll be good to eat anywhere from a few days after cooking.
Use a combination of your choice when it comes to dried fruit. I like to make sure it’s at least half vine fruits (raisins, sultanas and currants), but I always add a little candied ginger because I love it, as well as some candied orange slices and whatever other glace or candied fruit I have on hand for Christmas baking. Some stores sell pre-packaged mixed dried fruit; I really dislike it. The pre-packaged stuff generally contains candied peel with artificial citrus essence added to it, which smells and tastes awful.
This recipe makes a dozen half-cup puddings. If you’d like to make it as one large pudding instead, you’ll need a bowl/basin around 1.8qt/1.7l, and it will need to be steamed for 6 hours.

Nutrition