Paleo Christmas Puddings

Bringing over some of the Northwest Cavegirls Recipes

On my endeavor to create a paleo Christmas dinner this year, I had to, of course, master a paleo Christmas Pudding. I was unable to find a true paleo Christmas pudding but I did come across these two gluten free ones which I used as my starting point. Gluten Free Christmas Pudding by Cookinlovebird found on JamieOliver.com and the other from the BBC Food website. I opted to base my Paleo Christmas Pud on Jamie’s guest recipe… Thanks for the inspiration Cookinlovebird!

Here it is…

Ingredients:

• 1000grams of mixed dried fruit

-Trader Joe’s Bing Cherries
-Trader Joe’s Jumbo Raisin Medley (whole 454g bag)
-Trader Joe’s Organic Thompson Seedless Raisins
-Trader Joe’s Dried Cranberries Fortified with Cranberry Seed Oil (whole 227g bag

• 2 apples peeled and chopped small
• 1 orange zest and juice
• 150ml brandy (optional but highly recommended ;)
• 6 free range organic eggs
• 250g palm shortening frozen before grating
• 350g pure maple syrup
• 175g almond flour/meal
• 1 tbs. coconut flour (new addition, see outcome below)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Handful of chopped prunes

Directions:

You need 2 x 2lb pudding case or 4 x 1lb ones, greaseproof paper, a big saucepan, coconut oil and a pastry brush.

• Mix together apples,orange juice and zest, grated palm shortening ( I began hand grating and then decided to shred it in my food processor), beaten eggs, maple syrup in a large bowl.
• Add the flour, baking soda, dried fruit and spices
• Stir all together adding a the brandy at this point if required!!

• Divide into the pudding bowls leaving about an inch from the top in the 1lbs and about 2 inches in the 2lbs, just so they can rise a bit.
• Place on the top of the mixture an oiled piece of grease proof, make it bigger than the top, then place the lid on top and seal down.
• Place puddings into a pan, add the water so its an inch from the top of the pudding, bring to the boil and simmer for 6hrs, adding more hot water every 20mins or so, you must keep your eye on it. 

• Put your kitchen back together again!

• When cooked leave to cool, wipe off any excess fat from the case,it does happen sometimes, re-wrap with greaseproof paper and foil, make a little hand grip with the foil, because you need to simmer it again on the day its to be eaten for about 30mins to serve hot.

Please be careful at all times with the removal of the pudding from the hot water.

Outcome:

This is interesting! The Christmas pudding looks like a Christmas pudding and tastes EXACTLY like a Christmas pudding but the consistency is different. It was very juicy, a lot of liquid ran out of it when I tipped it onto the plate. I wonder if it could have done with being cooked longer. I still have one more on the stove as I type and I plan to leave it cooking for another hour or so. I found that the bottom of the pud was cooked better than the top, which makes me think that with the simmering and evaporating water that the top of the pud was not getting direct heat all the time. Hmmmm?! It is going to be interesting to see.

Anyhow… the pud, as is, is super yummy and if that is what we have for Christmas Day then I am very happy! I am super pleased that it tastes just as it should and the consistency is nice and yummy, just different.

From Aiken Anecdotes I received a number of comments with great suggestions to reduce the liquidy issue, one of which was from our Angie, who suggested adding a tablespoon of coconut flour to the recipe as this is a great soaker-upper! Next time I make these I will definitely add this to my recipe!!

Also steam the puds in 2 inches of water rather than up to an inch from the top of the pud basin as to not risk seepage into the top of the basin. The puds in theory steam from the steam in the pan not from the water so this is a great point to which I will take use next year.