Kuroshituji Desserts Ep. 12 - Christmas Pudding
The holiday season is finally here! What better a time than to try and create a fabulous Christmas Pudding. Hopefully the timing of this post will give you just enough time to gather the proper ingredients to make your own and enjoy it with family and friends.
As Sebastian mentions in episode 1, there are many English desserts that feature an animal fat for moisture and richness. And Christmas pudding is no exception; most recipes call for suet. Suet may be difficult to find, or you may likewise find it disgusting. Steamed puddings, such as Christmas pudding, also require a pudding mold (or so I thought), so I spent the better part of the year searching for one in my area. However, both troubles were put to rest when I found this recipe a couple weeks ago:
Titli's Christmas Pudding
What a truly delightful chef! I picked up a metal bowl at a 100yen shop, as I couldn't find a heat-proof glass one, and halved the recipe. There was no candied peel available in my area, so I used her recipe for that as well - substituting oranges for the more readily available mandarin oranges.
Of note, the bowl was much more than a pint, but could barely hold all the goodies. Also, during the cooking time, both rubber bands popped! I made a daring rescue, pulling the bowl from the boiling water to replace them, only to have these pop as well. The pudding turned out fine nonetheless.
This is a very rich, very fruity pudding that deserves an equally decadent custard cream. If you like ice cream or whipped cream, both would make excellent accompaniments. As the custard recipe I used was so-so, I shall not be sharing it, but the result when paired with the pudding was still delicious.
You can add lucky items to your pudding if you like (such as a ring, bell, or coin), or simply enjoy it as it is. Happy Holidays.
More pictures available at batsu3.org.