If you’re not too keen on the traditional Christmas pudding, the Sticky Ginger Pear Pudding is a delightful alternative!
Ingredients
85g golden syrup, 175g dark muscovado sugar, 150ml milk, 100g butter, 175g self-raising flour, 1tsp bicarbonate of soda, 2tsp ground ginger, 1tsp cinnamon, 6 balls stem ginger, 2 ripe pears (peeled), 1 egg.
Method
- Place the syrup, sugar and milk into a saucepan and bring to a simmer to dissolve. Leave to cool. (pop this aside for later) Heat your oven to 180°C/gas 4
- Put the butter, flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground cinnamon and ginger into a food processor, pulse until it forms fine crumbs.
- Butter a pudding basin and sprinkle 1 tsp sugar into the bottom. Cut 3 ginger balls in half and put 5 halves round-side-down into the bottom. (should look like points of a star) cut out one cheek from a pear, then slice around 10 times without chopping into the stalk. Gently press this into the bottom of your basin to create a pear fan.
- Core your remaining pears then thinly slice the remaining pair and chop the rent of the ginger.
- Tip your now cooled syrup mix and egg into a food processor whizz alongside dry ingredients into a batter. Stir in the chopped ginger and sliced pear. scrape this mix into your basin, then bake for 1hr 20 mins until dark and golden. (be sure not to open the oven before 45 mins are up!)
- Melt your syrup ingredients in a pan together until the sugar is dissolved, boil briefly. Turn the pudding out of its basin just before serving, spoon over syrup and enjoy with custard or ice cream!