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Stir-up Sunday: Traditional Christmas pudding recipe to prepare for your festive feast

Christmas Pudding, mince pies and Christmas cookies. Christmas scene and decorations in the background.
Stir-up Sunday is the time to get Christmas pudding prepared in advance. [Photo: Getty]

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).

READ MORE: Here’s what eating a festive dinner does to your body

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.

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