I made a simple white chocolate sauce to have with our Christmas Pudding on Christmas Day. Here's a basic recipe...
Ingredients
Cream (Single or Double)
White Chocolate
Method
Break up the chocolate and put it in a saucepan with the cream. Melt gently over a low heat. Serve.
It's that easy. It's really up to you what quantities you use and how thick or creamy you make it. If you want a really chocolatey sauce then have very little cream, just use a couple of tablespoons of cream. If you want a creamier sauce then go for half cream to half chocolate, for example. I used about half and half, i.e. 250ml Cream to 250g White Chocolate. If doing it like this you can add more cream or more chocolate as you like. You can also add a vanilla pod too - cut lengthways and scape the seeds out to mix into the sauce.
Wednesday 31 December 2008
Christmas Day - Carved Angel 680g Pud with White Chocolate Sauce
I have to apologise, and I will edit my previous post to show this, but I'm not convinced by the Carved Angel pudding anymore! We had it on Christmas Day and I was a little disappointed. I'm not saying the pudding was horrible, but it just wasn't as particularly lovely as I thought... however, the white chocolate sauce I made really worked. Onto the review.
Purchased: Dec 2007
Best Before: ? Forgot to take note ?
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: Yes
Cream or Custard: White Chocolate Sauce
Packaging: White porcelain bowl with muslin wrap around the top. Cardboard sleeve.
Appearance: Home made look. Not as shiny as other pudidngs, in fact not particularly shiny at all.
Texture: Pretty soft. Tendency towards cakey consistency, but still definitely a pudidng.
Taste: Don't get me wrong, I like this pudding and it is tasty. Nice fruits. It has something about it that you wouldn't normally expect in a pudding that's quite appealling. I just didn't find it, on this eating, to be as nice as previous times. So the score reflects this.
Score: 7/10
Purchased: Dec 2007
Best Before: ? Forgot to take note ?
Cooked: Steamed
Lit up: Yes
Cream or Custard: White Chocolate Sauce
Packaging: White porcelain bowl with muslin wrap around the top. Cardboard sleeve.
Appearance: Home made look. Not as shiny as other pudidngs, in fact not particularly shiny at all.
Texture: Pretty soft. Tendency towards cakey consistency, but still definitely a pudidng.
Taste: Don't get me wrong, I like this pudding and it is tasty. Nice fruits. It has something about it that you wouldn't normally expect in a pudding that's quite appealling. I just didn't find it, on this eating, to be as nice as previous times. So the score reflects this.
Score: 7/10
Wednesday 17 December 2008
Work Christmas Pudding
This pudding was served up by my work's staff restaurant as part of their Christmas lunch.
Purchased: Today
Best Before: N/A
Cooked: ?
Lit up: Err, no
Cream or Custard: Brandy Cream - not exactly my favourite, but never mind
Packaging: N/A
Appearance: Flat topped, swimming in brandy cream. Mid-shine.
Texture: Fairly firm and a little stodgy. Stays together when chewed, rather than falling apart.
Taste: Remarkably this pudding wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The brandy cream stuff was actually OK too, but did mean I couldn't get a proper taste of just the pudding. The pudding itself perhaps leant a little towards the side of being a bit like cake, so that is a bit of a shame. In fact the taste is quite like Christmas cake, which I also like, but it's not the same as Christmas pudding. I think it was a good effort seeing as my expectations were so low. It was quite tough to determine the alcohol content of the pudding because there was so much brandy cream. In the grand scheme of things it goes down as being a fairly average pudding.
Score: 5/10
Purchased: Today
Best Before: N/A
Cooked: ?
Lit up: Err, no
Cream or Custard: Brandy Cream - not exactly my favourite, but never mind
Packaging: N/A
Appearance: Flat topped, swimming in brandy cream. Mid-shine.
Texture: Fairly firm and a little stodgy. Stays together when chewed, rather than falling apart.
Taste: Remarkably this pudding wasn't as bad as I was expecting. The brandy cream stuff was actually OK too, but did mean I couldn't get a proper taste of just the pudding. The pudding itself perhaps leant a little towards the side of being a bit like cake, so that is a bit of a shame. In fact the taste is quite like Christmas cake, which I also like, but it's not the same as Christmas pudding. I think it was a good effort seeing as my expectations were so low. It was quite tough to determine the alcohol content of the pudding because there was so much brandy cream. In the grand scheme of things it goes down as being a fairly average pudding.
Score: 5/10
Wednesday 10 December 2008
2008 Comment
Whilst I've only managed a handful of Christmas pudding reviews since I started the blog I have eaten many different puddings over the last few years in particular. At one stage I think we moved house with around two dozen puddings, much to the amusement of the removal men. If you're looking for a decent pudding this Christmas then hopefully the following comment will help.
Top Puddings
For a number of years I would always buy the most expensive Marks and Spencer pud for Christmas Day. In my mind this has always reliably been a very tasty pudding and well worthy of being eaten over the Christmas period. At the same time I have generally bought a few of the slightly cheaper puddings too and they have also been tasty, but their top pud was normally the one I picked to eat on the 25th. At the end of September this year I had an organic one from there that I bought in 2006 and this was also very good.
One of the nicest puds I can remember eating was a gift from HRH Prince Charles. No, really. So, as you might expect, it was a Duchy Originals pudding. It was a 454g pudding that was steamed as the friends who served it to us did not (and probably still don't) own a microwave. I still think that steaming a pudding gives the best results and will be doing so on Christmas Day this year. Recently I ate a small, 100g Duchy Originals pud and this was not so good. It suffered the same fate of a lot of the 100g puds I have eaten and that is the alcohol content is overpowering. This is worth noting if you are the only one eating Christmas pudding - it may be worth buying a slightly larger one. You can always save the leftovers for boxing day and fry up slices with some butter, so I'm told. You won't see any leftovers in my home.
More recently I have had a Carved Angel (http://www.thecarvedangel.com/) Traditional Christmas Pudding. I have one on my shelf at the moment and it's a contender for being eaten on Christmas Day again. It will depend on my mood I suspect and whether I want to try something new. You can order them from their web site or often find them in Waitrose. They do have something about them that tastes a touch different, which I quite like. Not sure what it is, partly because I haven't had one for at least 12 months!
A more recent discovery is the LEWIS & COOPER hand made puds. I was given one as a gift and it performed well. However, I can't recommend microwaving it, as I did. I suspect steaming one would give better results and I must try and get another one to try this with.
One year the CCCPC tried one of every type of Harrod's Christmas Pudding. We expected great things. How disappointed we were! None of them were great, and indeed the more money you spent the worse they got. So, if you must buy from Harrod's then buy the cheapest. I'd hope they might have improved their puddings by now - although I'm not in a position to get there to buy some at the moment to find out.
Regular supermarket puddings are normally pretty reliable - particularly if you go for the "standard" puddings. They will be pretty fruity and tasty. It has been my experience that more expensive ones are a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you can get a good one, but often you do not. One of particular note was from ASDA. We tried their most expensive pudding that year, in gold wrapping, and we loved it. It was probably something like "ASDA Luxury Christmas Pudding". My recent Sainsbury's tasting showed their SO Organic pud to be very tasty. I admit to not having tried anything from Tesco. I had a couple of Morrison's puds a couple of years back and they were nice enough. I also had some good ones from Budgens which I picked up after Christmas half price (this is fairly common for me - bargain pud shopping post Christmas!).
Overall though my top recommendation is probably a Carved Angel Traditional Pudding. I think second, as it's a recently bought pudding, goes to the Sainsbury's SO Organic Pudding that I had earlier in the week. LEWIS & COOPER also worth a look in if you know where to get them and make sure you steam it!
Other Stuff
I would always recommend steaming your pudding on Christmas Day if you can. I think this gives the best results over destroying it in the microwave. It's a much gentler process that warms it through nicely over a couple of hours or so, depending upon the size. Depending on how the pudding is packaged it may also keep it really nice and moist.
I'm not a massive fan of brandy butter or brandy cream. I normally stick to regular cream or custard. One year, however, on the box of our Champagne Marks and Spencer pudding was a recipe for some white chocolate sauce. We made it and it really did work well with the Christmas pudding. I'm gutted to have lost the recipe, but it might be worth doing a quick Google for one and trying it out.
Most of the year I don't bother lighting up my Christmas puds. On Christmas Day however it always something nice to do. Some people say it can ruin it, but I think the key is not to use too much brandy when doing so. The best way to do this, in my experience, is to put some brandy in a (metal) ladel and heat this over your gas hob for a short while. If you don't have a gas hob you'll have to think of some other way! Then, carefully, really carefully, take this to the table and light it before you pour it over the pudding. Sometimes, if you're a bit careless with your gas hob, you might light the brandy before while you are still heating it.
Updated (post Christmas)
I had a Carved Angel Pudding on Christmas Day and did not enjoy it as much as I have previously, so perhaps things have changed. It was still a good pudding, but not as nice as I was expecting. Perhaps next year's recommendations will be different... watch this space.
Top Puddings
For a number of years I would always buy the most expensive Marks and Spencer pud for Christmas Day. In my mind this has always reliably been a very tasty pudding and well worthy of being eaten over the Christmas period. At the same time I have generally bought a few of the slightly cheaper puddings too and they have also been tasty, but their top pud was normally the one I picked to eat on the 25th. At the end of September this year I had an organic one from there that I bought in 2006 and this was also very good.
One of the nicest puds I can remember eating was a gift from HRH Prince Charles. No, really. So, as you might expect, it was a Duchy Originals pudding. It was a 454g pudding that was steamed as the friends who served it to us did not (and probably still don't) own a microwave. I still think that steaming a pudding gives the best results and will be doing so on Christmas Day this year. Recently I ate a small, 100g Duchy Originals pud and this was not so good. It suffered the same fate of a lot of the 100g puds I have eaten and that is the alcohol content is overpowering. This is worth noting if you are the only one eating Christmas pudding - it may be worth buying a slightly larger one. You can always save the leftovers for boxing day and fry up slices with some butter, so I'm told. You won't see any leftovers in my home.
More recently I have had a Carved Angel (http://www.thecarvedangel.com/) Traditional Christmas Pudding. I have one on my shelf at the moment and it's a contender for being eaten on Christmas Day again. It will depend on my mood I suspect and whether I want to try something new. You can order them from their web site or often find them in Waitrose. They do have something about them that tastes a touch different, which I quite like. Not sure what it is, partly because I haven't had one for at least 12 months!
A more recent discovery is the LEWIS & COOPER hand made puds. I was given one as a gift and it performed well. However, I can't recommend microwaving it, as I did. I suspect steaming one would give better results and I must try and get another one to try this with.
One year the CCCPC tried one of every type of Harrod's Christmas Pudding. We expected great things. How disappointed we were! None of them were great, and indeed the more money you spent the worse they got. So, if you must buy from Harrod's then buy the cheapest. I'd hope they might have improved their puddings by now - although I'm not in a position to get there to buy some at the moment to find out.
Regular supermarket puddings are normally pretty reliable - particularly if you go for the "standard" puddings. They will be pretty fruity and tasty. It has been my experience that more expensive ones are a bit hit and miss. Sometimes you can get a good one, but often you do not. One of particular note was from ASDA. We tried their most expensive pudding that year, in gold wrapping, and we loved it. It was probably something like "ASDA Luxury Christmas Pudding". My recent Sainsbury's tasting showed their SO Organic pud to be very tasty. I admit to not having tried anything from Tesco. I had a couple of Morrison's puds a couple of years back and they were nice enough. I also had some good ones from Budgens which I picked up after Christmas half price (this is fairly common for me - bargain pud shopping post Christmas!).
Overall though my top recommendation is probably a Carved Angel Traditional Pudding. I think second, as it's a recently bought pudding, goes to the Sainsbury's SO Organic Pudding that I had earlier in the week. LEWIS & COOPER also worth a look in if you know where to get them and make sure you steam it!
Other Stuff
I would always recommend steaming your pudding on Christmas Day if you can. I think this gives the best results over destroying it in the microwave. It's a much gentler process that warms it through nicely over a couple of hours or so, depending upon the size. Depending on how the pudding is packaged it may also keep it really nice and moist.
I'm not a massive fan of brandy butter or brandy cream. I normally stick to regular cream or custard. One year, however, on the box of our Champagne Marks and Spencer pudding was a recipe for some white chocolate sauce. We made it and it really did work well with the Christmas pudding. I'm gutted to have lost the recipe, but it might be worth doing a quick Google for one and trying it out.
Most of the year I don't bother lighting up my Christmas puds. On Christmas Day however it always something nice to do. Some people say it can ruin it, but I think the key is not to use too much brandy when doing so. The best way to do this, in my experience, is to put some brandy in a (metal) ladel and heat this over your gas hob for a short while. If you don't have a gas hob you'll have to think of some other way! Then, carefully, really carefully, take this to the table and light it before you pour it over the pudding. Sometimes, if you're a bit careless with your gas hob, you might light the brandy before while you are still heating it.
Updated (post Christmas)
I had a Carved Angel Pudding on Christmas Day and did not enjoy it as much as I have previously, so perhaps things have changed. It was still a good pudding, but not as nice as I was expecting. Perhaps next year's recommendations will be different... watch this space.
Tuesday 9 December 2008
Three Sainsbury's 100g Puds
I had to pick some chips up for tonight's tea, so I took the liberty of adding three Chirstmas puddings to my basket. I will review them all side by side. So here they are:
Sainsbury's Taste the difference, Cognac laced Christmas pudding (TTD)
Sainsbury's SO organic Christmas pudding (SO)
Sainsbury's Luxury Christmas pudding (SL)
Purchased: Today! (Dec 2008)
Best Before: March 2010
Cooked: Steamed
Lit Up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: All three puds are in regular plastic tubs. TTD is black, SO is green and SL is red. TTD has a lovely purple box, SO a green box and SL a gold sleeve.
Appearance: All are flat bottomed puds, because of the plastic tubs they are in. All pretty shiny, but the SO one was noticeably lighter in colour.
Texture: All three were very similar in texture. TTD was nuttier than the other two, but all crumbled nicely when eaten.
Taste: This is where they differ. SL was a solid pudding, just the sort of thing you expect from a Christmas pudding. Nice and fruity, but nothing extra special. SO was very similar, but had something a bit more that made it taste "nicer"! Struggling to find the words to describe how it differs. Both E and I agreed it was tastier. It's lasting flavour was also better. TTD was altogether a bit different. We really did "taste the difference", but unfortunately it was not for the better. I liked the larger nuts (almonds I think), but E is not so keen. The main problem is that the pud was too alcoholic. The others were not so. TTD was a big disappointment.
Scores
TTD: 4/10
SO: 7/10
SL: 6/10
Monday 8 December 2008
LEWIS & COOPER Hand Made Traditional Plum Pudding with Hennessy Cognac 100g
Purchased: Gift 2007Best Before: 30th Sept 2009 (I was very tempted to eat this on 1st Oct 2009)
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Ice Cream
Packaging: Green cellophane around greaseproof paper. Silver lettering on black sticker. Classy! Gold sticker that says "GOLD Great Taste Awards", ominous.
Appearance: Shaped pretty much like a cupcake. Not as shiny as others - which is normally a good sign.
Texture: Fruity, there are no nuts here. Nice and soft, but it was on the dry side. I suspect if I had steamed the pudding it may have been better here.
Taste: It had a GOLD taste award, so I was excited. Taste was very good, almost excellent. It was a very fruity tasting pudding. Refreshingly for a small pudding it was not overly alcoholic, getting this just right. Nice lasting flavour in the mouth.
Score: 7/10 (Potential for higher score if steamed)
Ultimate Plum Pudding (Charity Pudding) 454g
Purchased: Gift in Dec 2005Best Before: April 2007
Cooked: Microwave
Lit up: No
Cream or Custard: Cream
Packaging: Red plastic tub with lid, wrapped in plastic. Sticker on top tells you which charity this pudding is supporting
Appearance: Flat top, very shiny pud
Texture: Pretty much just mushy. Disappointing texture - I was expecting more from the "Ultimate Plum Pudding". Far from ultimate, very far.
Taste: Also very disappointing. This is not one to serve up on Christmas Day, or any other day. It tastes a bit like Christmas Pudding, but I wonder whether this is one that is past it's best. It has a slightly sickly character I do have another one that is still "in date" (although I normally disregard such dates). I will endeavour to try this soon by way of comparison and hope it is better. E left her bowl unfinished.
Score: 3/10 (It does support a "charity" after all)
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