My family (parents and siblings) unfortunately are not Vegan but ever since I was diagnosed as a Coeliac back in 2009, Mum would sometimes cook me a Gluten Free Christmas pudding and in the last 3 years has made it Vegan. Even though the rest of my family isn’t vegan, even they love it.

She always wanted to make it as close to the flavour of the pudding HER own Mother and Grandmother made during her childhood and even though this recipe is quite different with the shredded carrot, potato & apple, she agrees that this brings her back to her childhood everytime she eats it.

This can be made a couple of weeks ahead of time as long as you cover with foil and store in a cool, dry place.

Oh and I’ll let you in on a little secret. I never used to like Christmas Pudding as a kid and for most of my adulthood. (I hear the shock and sharp intake of breath). I’ve never been a fan of sultanas and raisins and as a kid I used to find the taste of the fruits in the pudding to be too rich for me. Even at Easter I wasn’t a fan of Hot Cross Buns because of the sultana/raisins in them and would make Mum get the fruit free buns. At Christmas, I always stuck to Trifle….BUT I have a theory that I just might not be a fan of store bought pudding and prefer homemade…because I remember when my Mum dug out this recipe a few years ago, I decided to give it a taste…and I LOVED it. I’m not sure if the flavours are more balanced or what…but well it’s been my favourite now for the past few years. (although I’m still partial to Vegan Trifle) I remember one year after the first time we made it, we didn’t get around to making the pudding and bought a commercial one and I hated it….but the following year we did homemade…and YUM. So to sum it up? Homemade Christmas pudding is the best…and you should ABSOLUTELY make this!!

Merry Christmas.

P.S. apologies for the terrible pudding pic. I ALMOST forgot to take it as Mum and I both made this but Mum took over for last part and we were literally about to serve it up when i suddenly shouted HANG ON I need a pic for the blog haha…so it was a bit of a last minute thought. I didn’t get a chance to add anything pretty on top (hence why I added some in photoshop)…but NEXT year…hopefully my photo skills will improve and I’ll update the pic.

In the pudding bowl ready for the crockpot

Recipe:

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Christmas Pudding – Vegan & Gluten Free

Course Dessert

Keyword Christmas, fruit, pudding

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 6

If you cook in Slow Cooker 12

Total Time 6 30

Ingredients

225 gms Gluten Free Plain Flour
225 gms Currants or Sultanas
225 gms Brown Sugar
225 gms Potato (cooked, mashed and cooled)
225 gms Carrots (peeled and grated)
110 gms Apples (peeled, cored and chopped)
55 gms Raisins
55 gms Dates chopped (Optional)
55 gms Nuts chopped – hazelnuts, walnuts, almond or a mixture of your favourites
1/2 tsp grated Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Mixed Spice
225 g Vegan Margarine/butter melted (I used Nuttelex)
Pinch of Salt

Instructions

Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients together in a very large mixing bowl. Put the mixture into a large greased pudding basin (should hold approximately 1 Litre or larger) – the mixture should come two-thirds of the way up the height of the basin.
Cover the bowl with baking paper and put some foil on top and tie with string, (see picture above) to ensure no water gets into the mix. You have 2 choices. You can cook it on the stovetop in which case you will need a tall, large saucepan OR you can place it in a crockpot(slow cooker, I use this method). With either method you then fill cooker/saucepan with water (water should come up to two-thirds along the side of the pudding bowl when its placed in there), put the saucepan/crockpot lid on. If steaming/boiling on stovetop it will take about six hours. If you use the crockpot it will take around 12 hours.
To ensure the water level doesn’t drop too much from evaporating, check the levels every hour or so and if needed, top up the levels with boiling water. You can pressure cook the pudding too, but check the manufacturer’s instructions beforehand. I haven’t tried that method as yet.
To serve: This year I found some Instant Custard Powder by brand Orgran which I mixed up in about a minute with Almond Milk. You can use whatever plant-based milk you prefer. Of course, you could also choose a vegan Vanilla Icecream as an alternative or whatever your favourite topping is.

Notes

Variation: It also tastes good eaten cold, I like to spread some Vegan Butter (Nuttelex) over the cold pudding slice.

Reheating: If you don’t use all the pudding in one sitting, you can absolutely reheat this on another day. You can steam it or reheat in the microwave. The microwave is somewhat quicker but be aware that if you cook it too long, the sugar in the dried fruit can make the pudding burn if microwaved for too long. So microwave in 30-second increments till you get it at the temperature you would like.