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Plum Duff

The quintessential Christmas pudding, the recipe supposedly came from Cornwall with the Abbotts. Granny Abott made it at Te Kinga, as did Nanna Hill. Also known as "Dead Man's Head" - the standard response to endless "What is it?" questions from curious kids as it was bubbling away on the old black wood stove.

Course Dessert
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 20 minutes
Servings 12

Ingredients

  • 3 cups Flour
  • 1.5 cups Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1 cup Suet Substitute: Crisco Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 cup Chopped Raisins
  • 1 cup Sultanas
  • 2 teaspoon Mixed Spice
  • 2 teaspoon Cocoa
  • 2 cups Cold Tea More or less, to mix into a sloppy dough

Instructions

  1. Use a cotton pudding cloth about the size of an opened pillowcase.

  2. Place the cloth across the top of a colander and scald with boiling water. Wring it out and lay back across the colander

  3. Dust the pudding cloth with flour and then turn out the pudding mixture into it.

  4. Gather in and tie the top of the pudding cloth with standard white string - not plastic. Leave a little extra volume for the pudding to "rise" - approx 1 cup should be fine.

  5. Place the pudding in a large pot of already boiling water....

  6. Boil for 4 hours! At a steady simmer is fine. Remember to check the water level regularly, and top up the pot with boiling water.

  7. When cooked, place back into a colander, and untie the string.

    Open the cloth and place a large upturned plate of the bottom of the pudding

    Flip the plate and pudding over and carefully remove the pudding cloth.

  8. Serve with Custard and Vanilla Icecream...

    Plum Pudding servings

Recipe Notes