Mom’s Christmas Pudding

My favorite holiday tradition would have to be baking for Christmas. My mother would come home from church one Sunday and announce – “Right! it’s time to make Christmas Pudding.” I didn’t know for many years how my mother received this revelation from God, such as it appeared to me, but it was absolute. After changing her dress and putting on an apron, Mom would start digging in the cupboards for ingredients, and soon we were up to our elbows in flour and fruit and Mom was singing one of her favorite war-time songs, “Pack up Your Troubles in an Old Kit Bag, ”or It’s a Long Way to Tipperary.”

Once Mom had all her ingredients in the bowl, she would call me and my dad over to stir the batter. This was supposed to be good luck. She once told me that when her sister Elizabeth made plum pudding, she would invite her brothers and their wives to come over and stir the batter. The more, the merrier, I guess. Once it had been properly stirred, Mom would add a few farthings to the batter (small coins worth 1/4 of a penny), then wrap it in cheesecloth, boil it, then pour some inexpensive liquor over the finished pudding and store it until Christmas.

Over the next few weeks, Mom and I would make Christmas Cake (not the dried-up cardboard version you can buy in big box stores, but the wonderfully moist and alcoholic version you can still find in English kitchens), mince tarts, and dozens of colorful cookies. I continued these baking traditions with my children, and to some extent, with their children. Baking is still one of my favorite pre-Christmas activities.

So how did my mother know when it was time to bake Christmas pudding? Because one Sunday out of the year is Stir-Up Sunday, the week when the Collect (prayer) of the day for the Sunday before advent is read out by the officiant:

“Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded.”

Clearly a call to make Christmas Pudding!

Baking for the Holidays

I gave up baking Christmas puddings and cakes years ago when I finally accepted that my American children and grandchildren didn’t have the taste for such things. But I still bake at Christmas, and invite my grandchildren to bake with me. This year we made gingerbread people and tiny gingerbread ornaments for the miniature tree in my guest room (which my 7 year old granddaughter has claimed as her space when she visits).

My favorite gingerbread recipe is from the Beanilla website. This company markets and sells premium vanilla, although interestingly, their gingerbread recipe doesn’t call for vanilla.

Cinnamon Gingerbread Ornaments Recipe

Yields 24 average size cookies – many more tiny ornament cookies.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup molasses

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, spices, salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine.

Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until well mixed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating smooth after each egg is added. Scrape down bowl and paddle.

Lower speed and add in about half the flour mixture. Add the molasses, then scrape the bowl and beater. Add the remaining flour mixture, about 1 cup at a time, and beat after each addition until it has all been incorporated into the dough.

Place half the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press it to about a 1/2-inch thickness. Wrap the dough securely and repeat with the remaining dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours or for up to 3 days.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two baking sheets and line with parchment or a silpat.

Cut refrigerated dough in half and re-wrap the second half, place in fridge.

On a floured surface, roll the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Use a floured cookie cutter to cut the cookies. As they are cut, place the cut cookies on the prepared pans with about 1 inch between them on all sides. Repeat with remaining dough. Save, press together, and re-roll remaining pieces of dough. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes.

After you’ve baked the cookies and they’ve had time to cool, decorate them with tubes of icing. Royal Icing, sometimes called Cookie Decorating Icing, dries hard. Gel icing stays sticky for days.

Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.  

Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon. Her next project is a cozy mystery.