How to Make Figgy Pudding

Name: How to Make Figgy Pudding
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 12 dried figs, chopped; 1/2 cup currants (or raisins); 1/2 cup water; 1/2 cup spiced rum; 1/4 cup brandy; 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon; 1 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3 large eggs; 1 cup brown sugar; 2 cups plain bread crumbs; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled; 1 cup dried cranberries; 1 cup dried apricots, chopped; 2 cups whipped cream, for serving

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Prep 30 min
Total 3 hr 0 min
Servings 10

A traditional figgy pudding packed with dried fruits and brandy! MORE+ LESS-

By Macheesmo

Updated November 24, 2014

Ingredients

dried figs, chopped

1/2

cup currants (or raisins)

1/2

cup water

1/2

cup spiced rum

1/4

cup brandy

1 1/4

cups all-purpose flour

teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2

teaspoons cinnamon

teaspoon ground ginger

1/2

teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4

teaspoon ground cloves

1/4

teaspoon salt

large eggs

cup brown sugar

cups plain bread crumbs

1/2

cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

cup dried cranberries

cup dried apricots, chopped

cups whipped cream, for serving

Steps

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1

In a small sauce pan, add chopped figs, currants, water, rum, and brandy and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, carefully light the mixture and remove pan from heat. Burn off alcohol for about a minute. Be very careful while doing this.
2

In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.
3

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, bread crumbs, and melted butter. Once combined, stir in fig mixture (let it cool slightly) and dry ingredients.
4

Use a flat spatula to fold in other dried fruit.
5

Butter a large Bundt pan or angel food pan. Add a few cups of water to a pan that is large enough to hold the Bundt or angel food pan. Place the Bundt or angel food pan into the larger pot and make sure the water comes at least halfway up the side of the pan. Adjust water levels accordingly. Remove pan from larger pot.
6

Scoop thick pudding batter into buttered Bundt or angel food pan, smooth it out, and cover with foil. Place pan into larger pot.
7

Cover and bring pot to a simmer, reduce heat to low and let pudding steam for 2 hours. Check water levels every 30 minutes or so.
8

After steaming, let the pan cool and then remove it from the water bath. Remove foil and flip it over so pudding comes out.
9

Slice and serve with whipped cream!

Nutrition Information

No nutrition information available for this recipe

More About This Recipe

Figgy pudding is a traditional holiday dish. Here's your personal guide to show you how it's made.

We’ve all sung it: "Bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer!" But what is it? That’s an excellent question, and one that I hunted down the answer to.

It turns out that figgy pudding is sort of a cross between a fruit cake and your liquor cabinet!

In other words, it’s very good. I roughly adapted this boozy figgy pudding recipe from an excellent NPR recipe that was posted many years ago. It led me to the figgy pudding light.

As the name implies, this pudding (more of a cake) starts with figs. Dried ones, to be exact.

Roughly chop these guys and add them to a small pot with some raisins (I used currants). Add the water, rum, and brandy to the pot and bring it all to a slight simmer.

Now for the fun part. When the mixture is steaming, remove it from the heat and carefully bring a flame to the side of the pot. The contents should light on fire, which will burn off most of the alcohol.

Let this burn for about 60 seconds or so. It’s totally safe, but obviously don’t leave the pan while it’s burning off!

Blow out the flame after it has cooked off a bit and then let the mixture cool.

Then whisk together all your dry stuff in a small bowl.

Add your butter, eggs, sugar, and bread crumbs to a separate, larger bowl.

And chop up all the dried fruit. You could use any dried fruit for this, but I like cranberries and apricots.

Whisk together the egg mixture and then add the dry stuff and the fig and booze mixture. Stir this all together well and then fold in your dried fruit.

It should be a really thick mixture.

To cook this pudding, we are going to steam it (rather than bake it) to keep it really moist and delicious. To do this, get a large angel food pan and butter it liberally. Then get a larger pot that the pan can fit inside.

Once the pan is buttered, scoop in all your pudding batter and smooth it out in the pan so it’s even.

Cover the pan with foil and place it in the larger pot. Fill the pot with water so the water comes at least halfway up the side of the angel food pan. Bring it to a simmer, cover, and let it simmer over low heat for two hours.

Check the water levels in the pot every 30 minutes and add more water if you need to.

Once the dish is steamed, let it cool, remove it from the water bath and turn it out onto a serving dish.

Then you can just slice it up and serve it! I think it’s best while warm, but you can store it for later also.

Now you can really bring the figgy pudding!

Nick will bring you figgy pudding and so on and so forth! Check out his blog, Macheesmo, and follow him on his Tablespoon Profile.