Stir-up Sunday: Traditional Christmas pudding recipe to prepare for your festive feast
This coming weekend it’s Stir-up Sunday, which this year falls on 24 November.
The festive-themed, annual day will see people all over the country preparing their Christmas pudding with just five weeks to go before the big day.
What is Stir-up Sunday?
This is a tradition which goes back to Victorian times.
Its name is inspired by the the opening words of the ‘Book of Common Prayer’, which is used on the Sunday before Advent (the period of four Sundays and weeks before Christmas falling from 1 December to Christmas day).
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The words read: “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people.”
Families would typically gather to make their Christmas puddings together, and some continue this idea on to this day. As tradition dictates, each family member will stir the Christmas pudding from east to west while making a wish.
The Christmas pudding itself traditionally contains 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and each of his disciples.
Christmas puddling recipe
If you’re looking for the perfect recipe for your Christmas pudding this year, we’ve found just the thing.
Tom Aikens, the Michelin-star winning British chef behind London-based restaurants Tom’s Kitchen and the newly-launched Muse, has provided his simple, go-to recipe for the festive dessert.
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Tom Aiken’s Christmas pudding - Serves 4
Ingredients
110g Brioche crumbs
110g Veg suet
138g Dark Muscavado sugar
30g Self raising flour
2.5g Baking powder
1.5g Spice all spice
1.5g Spice cinnamon
2g Spice ginger powder
2g Spice nutmeg
3g Sea salt
90g Dried currants
90g Raisins
90g Sultanas
45g Prunes dried
45g Carrots, grated
40g Mixed peel
40g Glazed cherries
70g Guinness
30ml Dark rum
20g Brandy
2 Eggs, whole
35g Treacle
30g Orange juice
20g Ground almonds
1 Orange zest
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled
METHOD
1. Mix all the ingredients together and refrigerate for 2 days mixing every 12 hours.
2. Pour into a greased pudding mould and cover with a lid and steam at 130°C for 2.5 hours.
3. Once cooked, either eat immediately or cool to re-heat later.
