Figgy Pudding (more of a cake than pudding) is also known as Christmas Pudding or Plum Pudding. It is an English dessert that is traditionally serviced on the Sunday before Advent.
Meaty Beginnings
Oddly, today's sweet plum pudding hails from a meatier dish. As Maggie Black writes in History Today, the dish that eventually evolved into plum pudding originally contained preserved, sweetened meat “pyes” and boiled “pottage” (that is, vegetables) and was enjoyed in Britain as early as Roman times. By Elizabeth I’s day, writes Black, prunes had come into vogue, “and their name became a portmanteau label for all dried fruits.” As plums became synonymous with fruit, plum dishes with and without meat became party food.
“Stir-Up Sunday”
Steamed plum puddings soon became much-anticipated Christmas treats that required plenty of patience. By the 19th century, cooks traditionally gave their plum puddings at least a month to develop their signature spicy flavors. On “Stir-Up Sunday,” the Sunday before Advent which falls five Sundays before Christmas, entire families would make their Christmas pudding. The name of the day was not derived from an actual need to stir up a pudding at all, but rather from a line traditionally read that Sunday at church. Back at home, pudding-making families would each stir the mixture and hope for good luck. NPR notes that the favored recipe had 13 ingredients, which represented Jesus and each of the Twelve Apostles.
EQUIPMENT: 2-quart saucepan, Food cutter, blender, mixing bowls, six ramekins, or muffin pan
MAKES 6 SERVINGS – 1 hour 15 minutes
FIGGIE PUDDING
- 1 cup chopped dried figs
- 1 cup chopped dried pitted dates
- 2 cups purified water or seltzer water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick unsalted butter, soft at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 ½ cups self-rising flour
- 3 ounces dark chocolate, grated #1 cutting cone
- Unsalted butter for coating ramekins
FROSTING
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 350ᵒF
- To the saucepan, add figs, dates, vinegar, and water and bring to a simmer over medium heat, about 275ᵒ Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the baking soda and set aside to cool 5 to 10 minutes. Add ingredients to blender and puree. set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, combine butter and sugar, mix well. Add eggs and continue to beat egg mixer begins to foam slightly. Add the pureed fig and grated chocolate and mix well. Fold in the flour and mix to combine.
- Place the mixture in buttered muffin pan, filling no more than halfway. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
- While the Pudding is baking, prepare the Butter Frosting.
- Remove the muffin pan from the oven and let stand about 10 minutes. Remove from muffin pan and place on a dessert plate.
- Top with Buttercream Frosting or serve with Vanilla Ice cream.
BUTTERCREAM FROSTING
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
In a measuring cup, soften unsalted butter in the microwave, about 30 seconds.
Mix in powdered sugar and vanilla, mix well and return to microwave for another 30 seconds. Set aside.
NOTE: Self-rising and all-purpose white flour serve different baking purposes. Do not use all-purpose flour in place of self-rising flour or results may be disappointing.