A Vegan Christmas Pudding With John Lewis

If you read my last post you will know that last week I attended a fantastic John Lewis Christmas event in London where we made our own vegan Christmas puddings from scratch. It really was so much fun and so easy to make them so I wanted to share the recipe with you all here on my blog so you can all have a go at making one yourself!

This event was in aid of 'Stir Up Sunday' which, if you didn't already know, is a tradition dating back to victorian times where on the last Sunday of November people across the country make their Christmas puddings in preparation for the big day. So be sure to get all the ingredients you need in for Sunday 26th November and take part in this nationwide event!  

Serves: 4 Prepare: 20-25 minutes Cook: 45-50 minutes

Ingredients

25g dairy free soya spread

1 tbsp milled flaxseed 

60g self-raising flour

½ tspbaking powder

pinch salt 

¼ tsp ground nutmeg 

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

25g coconut oil, melted

40ml black treacle 

55ml Meantime London Irish Stout

1 tbsp dark rum

Finely grated zest 1unwaxed lemon

40g peeled, cored and coarsely grated bramley apple, mixed with lemon juice

10g blanched almonds, roasted and chopped

75g currants

20g mixed peel 

20g Forest Feast Sour Cherries

200g mincemeat (vegan)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4.  Grease 4 mini pudding basins and 4 small circles of baking parchment with the soya spread and set aside.  Mix the flaxseed with 3 tablespoons cold water and set aside for at least ten minutes or until it becomes jelly-like and makes ‘flax-egg’. 

Sift the self-raising flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves into a medium mixing bowl, then add the “flax-egg”and the melted coconut oil.  Mix the treacle with the stout and rum in a measuring jug.  Pour this mixture into the bowl and whisk everything together thoroughly. Stir in the lemon zest, apple, almonds, currants, peel, cherries and mincemeat.

Divide the mixture between the prepared basins and top each one with a circle of greased parchment.  Wrap each basin in an 18cm square of foil and fold under the edges of the basins.

Place the basins into a roasting tin and pour in enough boiling water to come 2.5cm up the sides of the basins. Carefully place the tin in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the puddings are springy and firm to the touch in the centre. Remove from the oven, unwrap, remove the parchment and leave to stand for 10 minutes. Carefully run a small knife around each one and turn out onto warm serving plates.

1882 kJ / 448 kcals / 15.6g fat / 6.7g saturated fat / 67g carbohydrate / 54g sugars / 4.6g fibre / 3.9g protein / 0.7g salt per serving

I have to confess that the two Christmas puddings I made at the event didn't last very long despite telling myself I'd save them until Christmas! My husband and I enjoyed them with some Swedish Glace  ice cream over the weekend and they were absolutely delicious. I think I'll definitely be making more of these myself.

Be sure to let me know if you try your hand at this recipe and if you'll be partaking in 'Stir Up Sunday' on the 26th!

Thanks again to everyone at John Lewis and the Waitrose Cookery School for such a great event and sharing this recipe with me.