6 Puddings You Hear A Lot About During The Holidays (2024)
It seems like you can’t read a Yuletide tale or sing a carol without the mention of one particular pudding or another. But just where do these festive desserts come from and what’s inside of them?
We decided to uncover some of December’s sweetest treats that you’ve undoubtedly heard about, even if you’ve never seen or tasted them. So let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first.
1. Christmas Pudding
We start with the grandaddy of all December delectables: the appropriately named Christmas pudding. Also known as plum pudding, this dish is a staple of British Christmas dinner but has become popular in several of their former colonies as well.
This magical blend of molasses (called treacle in Britain), sugar, spices, and suet (i.e. cow fat) gets steamed and then covered in brandy before being set on fire as a popular holiday centerpiece.
“Now bring us some figgy pudding” is the well-known refrain of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas." So, here it is.
This seasonal favorite is essentially the same as a Christmas pudding but with the sweet addition of – wait for it – figs. It’s a perfect twist on the classic flavor and allows you to maintain the flaming pizzazz of the original.
3. Black Pudding
If you’re on the subject of puddings this holiday season, you might do yourself and your loved ones a favor and skip over black pudding. While it’s pretty standard breakfast staple in several European countries, blood sausage is still a hard sell in America.
Using dried pigs blood, barley or oatmeal, and a blend of spices, wheat flour, and hog fats, this conspicuously colored “pudding” is an excellent source of iron—but a terrible choice for holiday cheer.
4. Bread Pudding
This dessert is one pudding that has made its way stateside, and we’re all the better for it. Mixing stale bread in a suspension of milk, cream, eggs, and butter makes this dish equal parts creamy and hearty. Throw in sugar and spice and dried fruit (esp. raisins) and you’ve got a winning combination.
5. Banana Pudding
If you’re hearing this request, it’s probably from a toddler, and he or she probably wants the instant variety served with a few Nilla Wafers. But the fancy-pants, original concoction is no slouch either.
First off, the pudding should be sweet vanilla flavored custard separated by layers of ladyfinger or vanilla wafer cookies topped with fresh sliced bananas and whipped cream or meringue. It’s enough to make you go ape!
6. Sticky Toffee Pudding
Again, the English have very different definition of pudding. Or maybe we do. Like the Christmas pudding and figgy puddings before it, the sticky toffee pudding is usually steamed for maximum moisture.
Instead of figs, however, very finely chopped dates are added to the cake, which gets covered in a toffee sauce. And, yes, toffee sauce is the warm, liquid, org*sm-in-your-mouth flavor of melted British toffee. Custard and ice cream are optional additions but come highly recommended.
Well Christmas pudding (also called plum pudding, Christmas pudd or Christmas pud) is traditionally the main dessert served with Christmas dinner in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries, but it's origins are very much British. Plum pudding is a very rich dessert which is boiled or steamed.
“Figgy pudding,” immortalized in the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” carol, appeared in the written record by the 14th century. A mixture of sweet and savory ingredients, and not necessarily containing figs, it was bagged with flour and suet and cooked by steaming.
The pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine.It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock.
Christmas pudding is generally made from a combination of dried fruit, candied fruit peel, and citrus zests in a dense, sticky sponge cake. It can be flavored with cinnamon, brandy, rum, or other spices for moisture and taste.
The pudding is very dark, almost black in appearance due to the dark sugars and black treacle in most recipes, and its long cooking time. The mixture can be moistened with the juice of citrus fruits, brandy and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark beers such as mild, stout or porter).
It was believed it would bring good luck. In 1644 the Puritans tried to ban the pudding as they said it was 'sinfully rich' and 'unfit for God-fearing people'! In 1714 King George reestablished the pudding and it was enjoyed as a dessert for Christmas.
Naturally there will be exceptions, but most people in the U.S. do not serve Christmas pudding. Instead we are likely to eat other desserts, often pies ranging from apple or pumpkin to pecan or Mincemeat.
You can't get through the Christmas season without hearing about it, but have you ever stopped wondering what figgy pudding is? In Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, you read that Mrs. Cratchit proudly presented to her guests her Christmas pudding, resembling a speckled cannonball.
Figgy pudding or fig pudding is any of many medieval Christmas dishes, usually sweet or savory cakes containing honey, fruits and nuts. In later times, rum or other distilled alcohol was often added to enrich the fruitiness of the flavour.
Handmade at every stage, our St James Christmas Pudding is filled with delicious dried fruits and a well-judged quantity of puss*r's Full-Strength Navy Rum alongside Fortnum's Cognac. Pair with our rich Cognac Butter for added spicy aromas and a delicious, boozy kick.
In the United States, pudding means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, instant custards or a mousse, often commercially set using cornstarch, gelatin or similar coagulating agent such as Jell-O.
Queen of puddings is a grand sounding milk pudding named after Queen Victoria when she ate a similar pudding at an event in Manchester. The chef was so pleased she liked it he named the recipe after her. In this classic recipe berries have been added for extra flavour and nutrients.
Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported.
The name Wackelpeter has its origins in the 19th century, when the name "Peter" was often used as a nickname to describe something humorously (see also Hackepeter and Struwwelpeter). Moreover, the gelatine mass of the pudding wobbles (wackelt) when shaken. Wackelpeter or Wackelpudding also means a pudding.
Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy. If it contains figs, it is called a figgy pudding.
Introduction: My name is Velia Krajcik, I am a handsome, clean, lucky, gleaming, magnificent, proud, glorious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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