Christmas Figgy Pudding (gluten-free)

This gluten-free Christmas pudding focuses on figs, with added cardamom, orange zest and beautiful organic chestnut flour. 

INGREDIENTS

• 100g raisins
• 125g currants
• 230g dried figs with the stems cut off, and chopped into small chunks
• 75g dried dates, chopped into small chunks
• 4 tbsp Calvados
• 300g Bramley apple, peeled and grated
• 25g flaked almonds
• Zest of one large orange
• Zest of one lemon
• Juice of one orange (approximately 60ml)
• 130g chestnut flour
• 200g dark muscovado sugar
• 1 ½ tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cardamom
• ½ tsp nutmeg (or grating of fresh nutmeg)
• 100g unsalted butter
• 2 medium eggs

METHOD

Measure all the dried fruit into a large mixing bowl. Add the calvados into the bowl and begin stirring. Add the grated apple, almonds, orange and lemon zest and the orange juice, and give it a really good stir with a mixing spoon. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight for the fruit to soak up the liquid. The next day, butter a 1.2 litre pudding basin, place a disc of buttered greaseproof paper in the bottom, and have some string, greaseproof paper and foil ready to make a lid for it.

Weigh the chestnut flour and sugar into a separate bowl, and add the mixed spice, cardamom and nutmeg. Combine thoroughly, before adding to the soaked fruit and stir.

In a small non-stick saucepan, begin to melt the butter over a low heat. Remove the pan from the heat when the butter is roughly one third melted, allowing it to liquefy at a cooler temperature. Whisk the two eggs until frothy in a bowl, then stir the melted butter followed by the beaten eggs into the Christmas pudding mixture. Make a wish!

Spoon the mixture into the prepared basin. If it doesn’t come with a lid, you can make one using a sheet of foil and a sheet of greaseproof paper. Place the foil on top of the greaseproof paper and fold a 2.5cm pleat down the centre. Cover the top of the basin with the foil on the outside, and the pleat running down the middle of the bowl. Tie tightly with string under the rim of the pudding basin. Trim off the excess leaving roughly 5cm of foil under the string. Tuck the remaining foil up and under the greaseproof paper to seal it in. Tie a string handle so that you can lift your pudding in and out of the steamer or pan.

Stand the pudding in a deep pan of hot water on a heatproof metal trivet to prevent the basin from touching the base of the pan. The simmering water must come half way up the basin for the pudding to cook properly, but no higher. Simmer gently for 4 ½ hours, topping up with hot water as necessary. Check on it regularly to make sure it doesn’t boil dry, and making sure the water doesn’t get in.

Once your pudding is cooked and has cooled completely, replace the lid with a fresh layer of greaseproof paper and foil, and tie securely.

If you’re not eating the pudding on the day of making, to serve at Christmas, re-heat it for 2 hours using the same method as for the first steaming. Serve with brandy butter, custard or cream.

If you’re making it in advance, store it in a cool, dark and dry place, for not longer than four weeks.