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There’s no need to shout, “Bring us some figgy pudding!” because now you can make your own — using the British royal family’s recipe.
Figgy pudding, also known as Christmas pudding or plum pudding, is a classic British holiday dessert. It’s basically a steamed cake filled with dried fruit and soaked in alcohol, which is allowed to marinate for a few weeks prior to Christmas. While it sounds similar to fruitcake in the U.S., fruitcake is instead baked in the oven and has a crumbly texture.
The Royal Family’s social media accounts shared the Christmas pudding recipe along with a how-to video done by the Royal kitchen’s chefs.
ð¥ Today is #StirupSunday: traditionally the day when home cooks ‘stir up’ their Christmas pudding mixture.
This year, chefs in the Royal kitchens have shared their recipe for a traditional Christmas pudding.
We hope that some of you enjoy making it in your own homes. pic.twitter.com/BNepTPJD6a
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) November 22, 2020
The postings were timed with “Stir-up Sunday,” which according to the Royal Family’sInstagram account is “traditionally the day when home cooks ‘stir up’ their Christmas pudding mixture on the Sunday before the Advent season — and the countdown to Christmas — begins.”
Yet another reason to get the holiday season going!
While the Royal Family’s recipe does not include figs, it does include dried currants, raisins and sultanas (green raisins). Other ingredients include suet, mixed peel, mixed spice, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs, demerara sugar, beer, dark rum and brandy. The royal chefs note you can substitute cold tea or orange juice for the alcohol.
If you need a decoder for some of those ingredients, don’t worry — we did too!
It’s hard to find suet, which is hard rendered beef fat, in the U.S., though it is available to purchase online. A close substitute you can find in American grocery stores would be lard.
Mixed peel is candied lemon and orange peel. Mixed spice is usually a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and is comparable to pumpkin pie spice. Demerara sugar is crunchy, large-grained, pale brown sugar — you can substitute with turbinado or light brown sugar if needed.
All the dried ingredients are mixed together before adding the eggs and liquids, putting it all in a greased bowl, and steaming it for six hours in a double boiler-type pot on the stove. The pudding is then wrapped and stored in a cool, dark place until the holiday.
Last Christmas, as seen below, Queen Elizabeth, her son Prince Charles, her grandson Prince William, and her great-grandson Prince George, stirred up Christmas puddings for a Royal British Legion event. Prince George really got into the mixing too!
The Queen, The Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge and Prince George, joined forces to prepare special Royal British Legion Christmas puddings at Buckingham Palace this week. pic.twitter.com/HQQ3Dc6n0y
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) December 21, 2019
And the Royal Family has shared other Royal pastry chef baking recipes online. For Christmas 2019, they shared a video for Cinnamon Stars cookies. Spiced Easter cookies, fruit scones, chocolate cupcakes for Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, and Victoria sponge cake have also been posted.
Will you make the British royal Christmas pudding recipe?
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