This was the first time I’ve ever made a steamed pudding or a Christmas pudding in my whole life and it came out wonderfully!

Making do with a dessert bowl, some parchment paper, some foil and some string and a big pot, I produced a nice looking and tasting ( a little bit crumbled off and of course went straight in my gob for testing purposes) wartime eggless Christmas pudding using an old recipe, modified slightly, from the Ministry of Food in the 1940s. This is suitable for vegans..

All that is now left to do is feed it some whiskey and set it on fire on Christmas day

Eggless Christmas Pudding

• 2 oz plain flour
• 4 oz breadcrumbs (about 6 slices)
• 4 oz melted fat or suet (I used margarine suitable for vegans)
• 1 oz marmalade
• 1 lb of mixed dried fruit
• 3 oz sugar (I used brown)
• 1/4 pint of brandy, rum, ale, stout or milk (I used hemp milk and will feed it with alcohol afterwards)
• 0.5 teaspoon of baking powder
• 0.25 teaspoon salt
• 0.5 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
• 0.5 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of mixed or all spice

Method

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, spices and salt together
2. Add the sugar, dried fruit and breadcrumbs and mix
3. Melt that fat if using margarine and drizzle over and mix
4. Add the marmalade and 1/4 pint of liquid and mix very thoroughly
5. Put in a greased 2 pint basin (I used a large deep dessert bowl)
6. Cover with greased paper and foil and steam for 4 hours- click here
7. Remove basin and let pudding stand for 15 minutes to cool a little before removing from basin
8. Leave to cool, wrap in clean paper or cloth and store in a cool pantry or fridge. Will keep for a month.
9. Steam for an hour before serving or microwave in original container for 2-3 minutes

Vegans: Use hemp, rice, soy or nut milk instead of dairy, a lactose free/ dairy/animal fat free margarine..