We have many Christmas traditions that take place in our house. Some of these include putting up the tree as a family on 1 December, reading an advent story together each night of advent and having a birthday cake for Jesus for breakfast on Christmas Day. One of my favourite traditions that we have always done with my Mum’s family is to have plum pudding with money in it. However the way it is cut up is what makes the tradition special. The first cut is made and then the oldest person has to choose whether they want the slice to the left or right of the first cut (they may or may not be lucky enough to get a coin). It goes on like this from oldest to youngest with only the person doing the cutting being able to see the possibility of the next slice containing money. Even though I rarely eat the pudding (mainly due to the glacé cherries) I still want to carry this tradition on.
So when it came time to make a plum pudding that my husband and son could eat I had to attempt to make a gluten free, dairy free and sulphite free plum pudding. Not an easy feat as most of the dried fruit contains sulphites. I found a gluten free plum pudding recipe at Nellbe Gluten Free. As it was adapted from a tried and true recipe I thought it should work. Here is my version:
Gluten, Dairy & Sulphite Free Plum Pudding
Ingredients
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- ¼ cup sultanas
- ¼ cup dried figs
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup craisons
- 1 cup gluten free plain flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tbsp dairy free margarine
- 1 tsp bicarb soda
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Boil milk, sugar, mixed spice, mixed fruit and butter together in a saucepan. I just waited until the butter had melted then pulled it off the heat
- Add rest of ingredients and mix well
- Put into greased pudding basin, put baking paper on top, tie with string, then cover with foil
- Steam for 2 hours (I just placed the pudding basin into a pot of boiling water)
- Serve with custard.
Notes
I made this one last week for an early Christmas with my brother and family. I added foil wrapped coins which unfortunately all sank to the bottom, so when tipped onto a serving plate where all on top. Needless to say everyone ended up with some money.
What Christmas traditions do you enjoy in your house?
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