Everyone is busy at this time of year. Despite best intentions it’s easy to run out of time to make puddings, cakes, mince pies and all the other traditional Christmas fare.
Adapted from a recipe published some years back in Delicious magazine, these individual Christmas puds, which were called Cheat’s mini Christmas puddings in the magazine, are very quick to make. The original recipe makes four one cup puddings, but I think half that amount is enough. I served them at a ladies Christmas lunch and we concluded that they were so small we could pretend they didn’t have any calories at all!
Puddings:
600g shop bought Christmas cake or dark fruit cake, crumbled (I used Aldi’s)
½ cup milk
4 eggs
⅓ cup mincemeat (fruit mince)
¼ cup sherry
Glace cherries to decorate
Custard:
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
2 tsp vanilla essence
4 egg yolks
1 Tbs cornflour
¼ cup caster sugar
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease 8 half cup (125ml) dariole moulds or ramekins. Chinese tea cups (see photo below) are ideal. Place cake, milk, eggs, sherry and fruit mince in food processor and pulse a few times just to combine – you want it to remain chunky. Divide among the moulds and place in a large baking dish. They should be almost full to the top. Pour boiling water to come halfway up sides of moulds. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake 45 mins or until firm and slightly risen.
Meanwhile make custard. Heat milk, cream, sugar and vanilla to boiling point, but do not allow to boil. Mix egg yolks and cornflour in a bowl. Tip some of the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture and stir to combine, then tip back into saucepan. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula, until thickened. Do not allow to boil. Pour custard through a sieve to remove any tiny bits of cooked egg white.
When puddings are cooked remove moulds from dish, rest 10 mins, then tip onto individual serving dishes. Serve with custard (warm or cold) and decorate with glace cherries.
Serves 8
Hi Linda these little Xmas puddings sound yummy, I went and bought an M&S one yesterday!
Unbelievable and does not seem that hard!
Linda, that’s a brilliant idea, That’s got my Christmas Day completely sorted. Many thanks, hope you have a happy Christmas with your family.