I grew up eating my Grandmother Carrie’s Plum Pudding every Christmas and New Years as a child. It is a part of the holidays and just the smell says Christmas and New Years to me. The recipe she made had been passed down to her four generations ago, and six generations ago to me. It came from her Great, Great Grandmother from the Old Country as she referred to England.

Grandma had the recipe committed to memory, as she did many of her family dishes, casseroles, jams and pickles. But she wrote it down as she got older and her daughter (my mother) wanted the recipe.

Her plum pudding always had a warm hard sauce to spoon over the top rich with aromatic brandy. The spices of the plum pudding were deep and warming and the sauce sweet and decadent, it’s purpose to soak into the pudding on your plate.

Here is my modified recipe of her pudding. It is mostly the same, except I have taken out the wheat flour and made it grain and dairy free. I hope I have done you proud Grandma!

Plum Pudding with Hard Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of Raisins

1/2 Cup of Currants

1/2 Cup of Chopped Apple

1/2 Cup of Coconut Flour

1/2 Cup of Olive Oil

2 Eggs

6 Tablespoons of Maple Syrup or Honey

2 Tablespoons of Molasses

2 Tablespoons of Brandy (you can substitute lemon juice of desired)

1/2 Cup of Coconut Milk

2 Teaspoons of Ground Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger

1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Cloves

1/4 Teaspoon of Sea Salt

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda

1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Powder (this is corn free)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350° degrees F. Grease a fluted 2 quart pan or other two quart pan with high sides with organic vegetable shortening.

Beat the eggs, olive oil, molasses, maple syrup, coconut milk and brandy in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until creamy. You can use a hand held mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer. Whisk together all the dry ingredients (the remaining ingredients). Add the dry mixture slowly to the wet mixture until incorporated, then turn the mixer to medium high and beat for two minutes. Stir in the raisins, currant and apple on low until completely mixed.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Fill a large casserole dish with very hot water so when you place your fluted plum pudding pan into it the water comes half way up the sides. (You are creating a bain marie). Bake the plum pudding for 40 minutes, then tent with foil for 20 more minutes. It is a 60 minute bake total. If it should cave in a bit in the center when removed from the oven that’s ok. Let sit for five minutes, then tip it out of the fluted pan and onto a platter.

Hard Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup of Coconut Sugar

1/4 Cup of Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup of Water

2 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil

1 Tablespoon of Brandy

2 Teaspoons of Tapioca Starch

A Pinch of Nutmeg

Directions:

For the hard sauce whisk together all the ingredients except the tapioca starch. Then, bring to a boil. After the sauce comes to a boil, reduce it to a simmer and whisk in the tapioca starch until smooth. Continue to simmer for five minutes.

Serve the Plum Pudding by slicing it while warm. Then spooning warm hard sauce over it. While you can serve the cake cold, and just put warm hard sauce over it, it was traditionally served warm. You can reheat the pudding in the oven by wrapping it in foil and reheating for ten to fifteen minutes.