Christmas pudding is a traditional British dessert that goes back hundreds of years. This one is made of carrots, potato, apple, raisins, and dates steamed with a blend of gluten free flours and coconut palm sugar. Enjoy a decadent coconut sugar sauce drizzled over each serving.
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Christmas Pudding Traditions
Traditionally, Christmas pudding was made largely of dried fruit, similar to my Christmas fruitcake. In the past, it has sometimes been called plum pudding even though it didn't actually contain any plums. Apparently, plum referred to raisins or dried fruit in the pre-Victorian era.
You may also have heard of figgy pudding in the old Christmas song, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." It seems that it did contain figs.
British Canadian Christmas Pudding
This Carrot Christmas pudding comes from the recipe my mother used to make each year. I also followed that recipe in my pre-gluten free days. It contained carrots, potatoes, and apple in addition to some raisins and dates. This seems to be typical of what was made by the British who settled in Canada. I suppose that carrots, potatoes, and apples would have been more readily available than dried fruit.
When to Serve It
I like to offer Christmas Pudding as the main dessert after our traditional dinner of Roast Turkey and Cranberry Sauce.
Gluten Free Dessert
I've kept the amounts of carrots, potato and apple the same as in the old recipe, but found a gluten free flour blend that works well.
I also reduced the sugar from my mother's recipe. In developing this new version, I hesitated to use coconut palm sugar, so I made a few test batches with organic raw cane sugar. As it turns out, we like the pudding better with coconut sugar! Coconut sugar makes a very nice sauce, too!
How to Steam Christmas Pudding
My mother steamed her Christmas pudding on the stove top. I used to cook mine in a slow cooker, but now I steam it in my Instant Pot. If you don't have either appliance, you can steam yours on the stove top. Whichever way you cook yours, it leaves your oven free for other things.
Start with shredded carrots, potato, and apple.
More Gluten Free Christmas Baking
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated raw carrot
- 1 cup grated raw potato
- ¾ cup grated raw apple
- ½ cup butter or ghee melted
- ½ cup coconut palm sugar
- ⅔ cup almond flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ⅓ cup arrowroot flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup soft gluten free bread crumbs
- 1 cup raisins
- ½ cup dates pitted and chopped
Coconut Sugar Sauce
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup coconut palm sugar
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Grease a 1.5-quart ovenproof bowl with butter.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the carrots, potato, apple, melted butter, and coconut sugar.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices together. Stir in the bread crumbs.
- Add the raisins and dates to the dry mixture in the large bowl. Stir in the carrot mixture.
- Scrape the batter into the prepared ovenproof bowl. Cover with aluminum foil wrapped down the sides and around the bottom to secure it.
- INSTANT POT INSTRUCTIONS: Add 1 cup of water to a 6-quart Instant Pot. Set the trivet inside. Set your foil-wrapped bowl of pudding batter carefully inside the pot on top of the trivet. With VENT OPEN, select SLOW COOK for 3 HOURS.
- SLOW COOKER INSTRUCTIONS: You may set your foil-wrapped bowl into 1 cup of water in your slow cooker. Start it out on HIGH. If your water is boiling and evaporating, turn the slow cooker temperature down. Test the centre of the pudding for doneness after 3 hours of cooking. Cooking time may vary due to different temperatures of slow cookers. The pudding is done when you can poke a fork into the centre and it comes out clean or with dry crumbs on it.
- STOVE TOP INSTRUCTIONS: Stand the bowl of pudding on a trivet in a saucepan large enough to allow you to put the lid on over it. Fill the saucepan with enough water to come about ⅓ up the sides of the pudding bowl. Cover the saucepan with a lid. Bring the water to a boil. Reduce and simmer for 3 hours. Test for doneness.
Serve Carrot Pudding warm with Coconut Sugar Sauce drizzled over each serving.
Coconut Sugar Sauce
- In a small saucepan, bring butter to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to low. Add sugar, whisking constantly, so as not to burn. Stir in cream and vanilla. Just as the sauce comes back to a boil, remove from heat. Drizzle over warm Carrot Christmas Pudding.
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