Roll OutThe Christmas Pud

Wishing all my readers a wonderful Christmas.

May you have the gladness of Christmas which is hope;
The spirit of Christmas which is peace;
The heart of Christmas which is love.
Ada V Hendricks

The thing I have always liked best about Christmas dinner is the puddings. I could quite happily forget about the main course. Thank goodness for all those great Vegan chefs who have created our favorites without the use of eggs and dairy. So enjoy and happy eating!


Vegan Mincemeat
From Cherry of ParsleySoup

175g/7oz raisins
110g/4oz currants
110g/4oz sultanas
110g/4oz candied peel
110g/4oz vegetable suet
150g/6oz soft brown sugar
25g/1oz chopped almonds (optional)
1 apple
1 orange
1 lemon
1 tsp mixed spice
Pinch of ground cinnamon
About 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
50 ml (2 fl oz) brandy (you could use apple juice, but the mincemeat might not keep for as long)

Mix the dried fruit, suet, sugar and almonds together in a big bowl. Grate the lemon and orange peel into the bowl. Cut the orange and lemon in half and squeeze out the juice. Peel the apple, remove the core and chop it into small cubes. Add this to the bowl with the juice, the spices and the brandy. Mix everything together and spoon into 3 clean (and dry) jars.

Martin Shaw's Christmas Pudding
From Viva Guides

Martin says "One of my favourites! Don’t let the ingredients or cooking time put you off making this pudding - the effort is minimal and the end result is light and delicious!" Makes a very large 4 pint family pudding.

450g/1lb plain flour
450g/1lb currants
450g/1lb brown sugar
450g/1lb potato, cooked, mashed and cooled
450g/1lb carrots, peeled and grated
225g/8oz apples, peeled, cored and chopped
100g/4oz raisins
100g/4oz nuts, chopped
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
450g/1lb vegetable margarine, melted
pinch of salt

Thoroughly mix all of the ingredients together in a very large mixing bowl. Put the mixture into a large greased pudding basin (approx. 4 pint or larger) – it should come two thirds of the way up the height of the basin. If the basin has its own lid (many plastic ones do) put it on. If not cover with greaseproof paper and tie with string, put some foil on top and tie that with string too to ensure no water gets in. Place in a very large saucepan of water (water should come up to two thirds of basin), cover and boil for six hours. To ensure the water level doesn’t drop too much keep topping up with boiling water at least once an hour. Serve with dairy-free cream or Vegan ice cream.
Variation: you can split the mixture in to several smaller pudding basins. If you make it in advance re-boil it for 2 hours or microwave for a few minutes to ensure that it is reheated thoroughly. It also tastes wonderful eaten cold.

No Bake Mini Christmas Cakes
By Tulip-Fairy at Recipe Zaar

Tulip-Fairy says "I found this recipe in a sunday paper supplement. It was so good I gave them away as presents." 8 servings

For the cakes:
100g/3.5ozs sultanas
100g/3.5ozs raisins
25g/1oz ground almonds
50g/2ozs chopped glace ginger
1 grated rind of an orange
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tsps fresh orange juice, if needed
To decorate
50g/2ozs almond marzipan
75g/3ozs ready to roll icing
icing sugar, for dusting
48 dragees (edible silver balls, for decoration)

All you do is put the ingredients for the cakes, except the orange juice, in a food processor and chop finely. Then add the orange juice, if the mixture is a little dry. After that, divide the mixture into eight, and use your hands to shape them into small cakes, about 4cm square. Now dust the work surface lighly with icing sugar and roll the marzipan out to a 16cm x 7.5cm rectangle. Cut out eight stars using a 4 cm star cutter (make a template of one if you don't have a cutter). Drape one star over each cake. Then roll out the icing and do the same, but drape the icing in the opposite way to the marzipan on each cake. Decorate each icing star with six silver balls. Store the cakes in an airtight box til needed.

Alejandro's Favorite Steamed Date Pudding with Liquor Sauce
From Bryanna's Vegan Feast

Bryanna says "This is a light steamed pudding that my father, Alejandro Urbina, loved. It's easy to make, can be made ahead of time, and is not as heavy as many Christmas puddings." Serves 6-8

Pudding:
1 1/4 cups wholewheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cups soft wholewheat breadcrumbs (from a light wholewheat bread)
1 cup canned pumpkin, or pureed squash
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tbsp oil, or melted margarine
1/2 cup non-dairy milk

Liquor Sauce:
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
pinch salt
1 cup water
1 tbsp vanilla
3 tbsps whiskey, brandy or dark rum
OPTIONAL: 2-4 tbsps good-tasting non-dairy margarine (such as Earth Balance)

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Mix in the sugar, breadcrumbs, dates, and walnuts. In another bowl, beat together the pumpkin, vanilla, oil, and milk. Mix this into the dry ingredients and mix just until it's mixed well-- don't beat. Spoon this batter into a greased 8 and 1/2 x 4 and 1/4" loaf pan or a pudding mold, filling 2/3 full. Cover the pan tightly with foil and steam over simmering water in a covered pot for 1 and 1/2 hours. Cool for 5 minutes before loosening the sides with a knife and inverting on a plate. Serve immediately, with Liquor Sauce, or re-steam for 30 minutes before serving to re-heat.

To make liquor sauce:
Mix the sugar, cornstarch, salt and water in a small saucepan. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil, then simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla, liquor, and optional butter or margarine. Serve hot.

Quick Fling Trifle
From Dame Fandango

Dame Fandango says "If you need a pudding that you can fling together in a hurry and leave, then this is it. There are many, many variations, and you can simply choose the one that suits you best. I've included 2 versions. I know that traditional trifle doesn't usually contain jelly, but we've included it in one version. And although we haven't used soya much in the recipes, soya custard has been used here for convenience.

Packet egg and dairy free cakes/sponge fingers
Tin of fruit or equivalent fresh
1 vegan jelly
18 fl oz/500ml soya custard (I use Alpro)

Optional:
9 fl ozs/250ml soya cream
Chocolate fudge sauce
Dark chocolate for decorating
Vegan jelly beans to go on top for kids
Jam or marmalade
Alcohol

Version 1
Slice plain sponge pieces or cakes in half, spread with a layer of jam and stick back together. Do this with all of them, then lay them in the bottom of a dish. Drain a can of raspberries or strawberries, reserving a few (or use a punnet of fresh) and lay the rest over the sponge pieces. Cover with strawberry or raspberry jelly and leave it to set. Top with custard (and then cream if you like). Decorate with reserved pieces of fruit.

Version 2
Overnight, drain a tin of black cherries and soak in rum. Then, slice cake, spread with black cherry jam, put back together and lay in the bottom of the dish. Drain the cherries and scatter over the sponge. Make one or two quantities of chocolate fudge sauce (depends how deep you want the trifle) and pour over the sponge. You could serve that as it is, if you wished, or add a grated bar of dark chocolate. Dot the reserved cherries on the top - if you have chocolate sauce left and it's stiff enough, you could put a dollop of that, then rest a cherry on it. Chill before serving. Trifle is great on its own, but you can serve with extra fruit or dairy-free ice-cream.


Rainbow Sorbet
From Living-Foods

4 frozen peeled kiwi
1 box frozen strawberries (tops cut off)
1 frozen pineapple (peeled, sliced)
6 frozen bananas
4-6 fresh mint leaves
3 fresh bananas

Freeze fruit 8-12 hours ahead of time. In food processor with "S" blade: blend 2 frozen bananas, kiwis, mint and 1 fresh banana in food processor. This is the first layer. Put into a parafait glass, place in freezer Second layer: in food processor, blend 2 frozen bananas with frozen strawberries and one fresh banana. This is the second later, put on top of first layer, return glass to freezer. Third Layer: in food processor, blend 2 bananas, frozen pineapple, and one fresh banana and put on top of second layer, garnish with fresh mint and serve immediately. (8-12 hours to freeze fruit; 20 minutes to prepare; 4-6 servings)

Notes: You can just make one layer and eat that. Each layer can be eaten separetely, on it's own. Any fresh fruit can be used- keeping banana as the base. Sorbet can be prepared with several machines. The vitamix does fine. The champion and the Green Power can do this as well, using
the solid 'blank'.

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