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Photography: Liz Boyd

Recipe | A Stir-Up Sunday Pudding

Iona Bower October 18, 2023

Sticky, sweet and steamy, this is a pudding packed with wintry flavours and spicy aromas to enjoy making now and then enjoy eating in a few short weeks.

Celebrating moments and traditions is a lovely way to mark the passing of the weeks in these last months of the year. One such tradition is Stir-Up Sunday, which this year falls on 26 November. If you fancy stirring up a pudding ready for Christmas, you might like this pudding with a fruity twist.

Ingredients

150g dried figs
150g Medjool dates
100g dried cranberries
100g raisins
200g Demerara sugar
3 tbsp rum, brandy or whisky
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
75g fresh white breadcrumbs
75g plain flour
2 tsp mixed spice
50g almonds
100g butter, room temperature, plus extra for greasing
2 large eggs

Method


1. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to snip the dried figs into small pieces, about the size of a raisin. Squash the dates and pull out the stones, then finely chop the dates.

2. Pop the figs and dates in a large mixing bowl with the dried cranberries, raisins and Demerara sugar. Pour over the liquor and the juice of 2 oranges. Tip in the orange zest. Mix well and cover with a clean tea towel. Leave overnight (or for at least 6 hrs) to soak, so most of the liquid is absorbed and the sugar begins to dissolve.

3. Add the breadcrumbs, flour and mixed spice to the soaked fruit. Finely chop the almonds and add them to the bowl. Stir well to combine.

4. Add the room temperature butter to a separate bowl and beat till smooth and creamy. Crack in 1 egg and beat into the butter. Crack in the second egg and beat til combined – it will look a little lumpy, but don't worry. Add to the dried fruit mix and fold to combine. Try to mix in all the butter and not leave any unincorporated lumps.

5. Generously butter a 1 ltr pudding basin. Spoon the mixture into the basin. Cover with a pleated piece of buttered foil (the fold in the foil allows for expansion) with the buttered side towards the pudding. Push the foil down around the edges of the basin and tie it in place with kitchen string, so no steam can escape. Make a string handle so it's easier to lift the whole thing out of the pan.

6. Place the basin in a steamer above some water or stand it on a rack in a large pan. Pour water into the pan so that it comes half way up the basin. Bring to the boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for 6 hrs for a light pudding, or 8 hours for a darker one. Check the water level now and then as it may need to be topped up.

7. If you're not serving the pudding straight away, allow the pudding to cool completely. Replace the foil with a new piece and make sure it is well sealed. Store somewhere cool and dry for up to 1 year. To reheat the pudding, steam or simmer it in water for about 1 hr. Turn the warm pudding out onto a plate and serve with cream, custard or brandy butter.

Photography by Abel & Cole

This recipe is by Rachel de Thample for Abel & Cole. You can find this and more recipes on the Abel & Cole website. In our November issue, Lucy Brazier embraces the joy of marking traditions and making your own throughout the year, and shares her Stir-Up Sunday memories.

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Stir-up Sunday

Future Admin November 21, 2021

Get stuck in on Stir-up Sunday. The tradition your tastebuds have been waiting for…

LIKE MANY OCCASIONS THAT end up being about cake, Stir-up Sunday was never supposed to be about cake. The name comes from an Anglican prayer delivered on the last Sunday before Advent (this year, 21st November) and intended to “stir up the wills” of the congregation to go off and perform good deeds. No one mentioned cake. However, at some point, the congregation’s womenfolk found these words served as a timely reminder to start “stirring up” their Christmas cake, mincemeat and puds so they could exchange flavours for five weeks. So pile the table high with dried fruits, nuts, bottles of rum and brandy, lemon halves, plain flour, cinnamon, eggs, butter, muscovado sugar, candied peel and whatever else your chosen recipe suggests, dust off your biggest mixing bowl and a wooden spoon and get stuck in.

This blog was originally published in November 2013. If you need a recipe for a fruit cake, there’s a really rather good one on page 25 of our November 2021 issue which you can still buy in our online store and have delivered to your door mat. Our December issue, with lots more ideas for preparing for Christmas is in all good shops and supermarkets now.

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  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

Buy, download or subscribe

See the sample of our latest issue here

Buy a copy of our latest anthology: A Year of Celebrations

Buy a copy of Flourish 2, our wellbeing bookazine

Listen to our podcast - Small Ways to Live Well

Feb 27, 2025
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The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

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