A Decadent Christmas

For most of us the festive season is an excuse for indulgent treats. During much of the year we are careful with our diet, we tend not to pander to expensive or decadent pleasures. However, during the Christmas holidays we like to loosen our belts and enjoy seasonal food and drinks. We inject a bit of luxury into our menu whenever possible. For many this means looking into different candies and treats, upgrading from the drab weekly retailer to the likes of Marks and Spencer. Christmas Hampers at Marks & Spencer or expensive boxes of chocolates from our neighbourhood shops. For others Christmas involves investigating new and exciting recipes, spreading interesting and unique foods upon the festive table. Decadent Christmas pudding recipes such as those found at uktv.co.uk may become very appealing this holiday season.

English Ale-Soaked Christmas Pudding: This is a particularly decadent fruit-based pudding complete with a number of ingredients, all flavoured with a hearty splash of rum or whiskey. This pudding is cram packed with prunes, raisins, assorted dried fruits as well as apple, banana and toped off with assorted fruit juices. However, what really sets this English pudding apart is the ale, which is traditionally poured over the finished pudding before each serving. Find this recipe at uktv.co.uk

Christmas Plum Pudding: This recipe for plum pudding can be found at uktv.co.uk and was added by Tamasin Day-Lewis. This spiced pudding is flavoured with cloves, ginger, cinnamon, dates, almonds and brandy. All of which add flair and flavour to this traditional fruit-based pudding

For the most part, these two recipes demonstrate some of the main tendencies among these traditional Christmas snack treats. In general, you will probably notice – if you research different recipes – that most of them tend to focus either on spice content, or on alcohol inclusion. Of course, certain ingredients, such as dried fruits, raisins, etc., tend to be present in just about every Christmas pudding that you can find, as they are essential to both the texture and taste of this sort of treat. However, the differences in other ingredients, as well as in methods of preparation, make Christmas puddings very versatile as treats, and allow you a good bit of variety and potential experimentation in your efforts to put something unique and interesting in front of your family or guests. This can be a great thing to try this season if you’re looking for something new and delicious.

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