Christmas Pudding with Orange Mace Hard Sauce

We wanted a simpler, more modern plum pudding recipe that would not require months of aging. We used a little less butter in place of the suet, which gave us a rich but much lighter-textured pudding. To skip the expense of a classic pudding mold, we patched together a makeshift mold from a mixing bowl and heavy-duty foil for our plum pudding recipe. And we cut the aging time by storing the pudding in the refrigerator (not the pantry) for at least three days to allow the flavours to blend and mellow.

Plum Pudding:
2⅔ cups dark raisins (1 lb)
2 cups dried currants (10 oz)
2 cups water
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1 cup brown sugar, packed (7 oz)
¾ cup all-purpose flour, unbleached (3¾ oz)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. sea salt
½ lb unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into ¼" pieces, cold
4 large eggs
½ cup cream sherry or amontillado
⅓ cup brandy or cognac + ¼ cup for flaming pudding, optional
¼ cup candied citron, finely chopped, optional
vegetable shortening, for greasing mold

Hard Sauce:
½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar (12 oz)
1 orange, zested, finely grated
½ tsp. mace
¼ tsp. sea salt
⅓ cup brandy or cognac
2 Tbsp. cream sherry or amontillado

Make sure the pot for steaming the pudding is tall enough to be tightly covered once the pudding is inside, and remember that there will be a rack underneath the pudding as well as a cover or plate over the mold. Remember, too, that the steamer must be roomy enough to allow you to reach in and extract the cooked pudding, your hands protected by oven mitts. Of course, a pudding mold with handles makes the job easier. A 2½ or 3 qt heatproof glass or ceramic bowl can be used instead of a pudding mold.

Chop half of raisins into pieces roughly same size as currants. Combine chopped and whole raisins and currants in large, heavy-bottomed saucepan; add water. Cover and bring to boil; uncover and simmer briskly, stirring frequently, until nearly all liquid has evaporated, 15-18 minutes. Remove pan from heat, recover, and let cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours.

Combine bread crumbs, brown sugar, flour, spices, and salt in work bowl of food processor. Process until brown sugar is completely pulverized, about 15 seconds. Add butter and pulse until mixture is consistency of coarse bread crumbs, about ten 1-second pulses. Be careful not to allow mixture to clump. Whisk eggs in large bowl until foamy, then beat in sherry and ⅓ cup brandy. Stir in crumb mixture. Add cooked fruits and their juices and citron, if using, and stir until well blended.

Very thickly grease 2½ or 3 qt mold with shortening. Following illustration 1 below, fill mold with pudding batter, leaving at least 1" space between batter and rim to allow for expansion. If mold has cover, grease inside of cover and snap in place. Otherwise, cut piece of heavy-duty foil 1" larger than mold. Crimp foil over rim of mold with as little overhang as possible down sides (water tends to travel up overhanging foil).

Arrange cake rack. In bottom of large pot and set mold on top. Pour enough boiling water into pot to come halfway up sides of mold. If mold does not have its own cover, place upside-down plate over foil and cover pot. Turn heat to high and return water to boil as quickly as possible to set outside of pudding and prevent sticking. Lower heat to maintain brisk simmer and steam for 3½ hours, replenishing pot with additional boiling water as needed.

Remove mold from pot and let pudding cool until tepid. Shake mold back and forth to loosen pudding, then unmold onto large sheet of heavy-duty foil. Wrap pudding tightly, then wrap in second sheet of foil or enclose in zipper-lock plastic bag. Let pudding stand at cool room temperature for 3 days, then refrigerate for at least 1 week and up to 2 months.

When ready to serve, return pudding to original mold that has been well greased and steam 2-3 hours, until center registers 160°F on instant read thermometer, or knife plunged in center comes out hot. (Once reheated, pudding can be left in pot, with heat shut off, for 1-2 hours before serving.) Invert pudding onto platter and unmold. If you wish to flambé pudding, warm ¼ cup brandy in small saucepan until barely tepid. Drizzle brandy over pudding and then, standing back, ignite with long wooden match. Cut into wedges and serve with Fluffy Orange-Mace Hard Sauce.

For the Hard Sauce:
Combine butter, sugar, zest, mace, and salt in large bowl with electric mixer set at low speed; gradually increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is fluffy and looks almost white, 7-10 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Combine brandy and sherry in liquid measuring cup. With mixer running, very slowly dribble in spirits until well combined. Turn mixture into airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Bring refrigerated sauce to room temperature before transferring to serving dish or it will separate.

Combine brandy and sherry in liquid measuring cup. With mixer running, very slowly dribble in spirits until well combined. Turn mixture into airtight container and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Bring refrigerated sauce to room temperature before transferring to serving dish or it will separate.

Makes 16 servings.