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Hi, I made Nigella's Christmas Pudding on Sunday. I had to substitute to gluten free alternatives i.e. the flour and breadcrumbs. However after steaming the pudding looked really dry and I am very worried that I have made a mess of the recipe. Is there anything you can suggest? Many thanks.
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Nigella's Ultimate Christmas Pudding (from NIGELLA CHRISTMAS) is made with a combination of flour and breadcrumbs. It should be possible to use gluten-free alternatives, though we would prefer to use half gluten-free plain (all-purpose) flour and half ground almonds (almond meal) instead of the plain flour as the almonds help to add a little extra moisture.
The pudding is steamed, which is a very gentle form of cooking and it is quite difficult to overcook the pudding this way. Christmas pudding does tend to have a slightly dry look, so we suspect that it will be fine though as it is made with gluten-free ingredients it will be slightly more crumbly than a regular Christmas pudding. If you are concerned then you could "feed" the pudding with a little extra Pedro Ximenez (or whatever alcohol you have used), though this is not usually necessary for the Ultimate Christmas Pudding made with regular flour and breadcrumbs. Use a skewer to poke holes in the pudding and dribble over about one tablespoon. You could do this weekly or fortnightly until Christmas day.
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