Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding with Cointreau Sauce {gluten-free}

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Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding with Cointreau Sauce {gluten-free}

This Chocolate Orange Christmas Pudding with Cointreau Sauce is a delightful alternative take on the Christmas Pudding.

Prep Time30

Cook Time4

Total Time1

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: people

Calories: 563kcal

Author: Georgina Hartley

Ingredients

Day One

115 g sultanas
115 g currants
100 g dried cranberries
20 g mixed peel
40 g whole almonds chopped up
1 grated bramley apple about 250g
1 orange + 1 extra for decoration
50 ml Cointreau

Day 2

2 eggs medium, see notes
80 g fresh shredded suet*
125 g chocolate chips
115 g light muscovado sugar
80 g gluten-free breadcrumbs
80 g teff flour see notes
20 g tapioca starch (flour) see notes
25 g cocoa powder
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice see notes
¼ teaspoon salt

Cointreau Sauce

40 g butter
40 g sweet rice flour glutinous rice flour, see notes
500 ml whole milk
40 g caster sugar
150 ml double cream
2 tablespoons Cointreau
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Mix everything from the Day 1 list of ingredients, including the zest and juice of 1 of the oranges, in a large mixing bowl. Cover and leave to marinate overnight.
Add the rest of the ingredients from Day 2 and stir together really well.
Butter a pudding bowl, and slice half of the extra orange very thinly, tucking 3 of the slices into the bottom of the basin.
Fill the pudding bowl with the pudding mixture then prepare the bowl for the steam.
Take a large piece of greaseproof paper and lie a piece of foil on top, make a fold in the centre of both pieces which allows for more room for the steam to rise. Place these over the top of the pudding bowl, with the foil on top, securing with string around the pudding. Trim off any excess paper and foil, you don't want them to hanging too low as otherwise they will soak up the water during the steam.
Place a wire rack (or a folded up tea towel) into a large lidded pot, deep enough to cover the pudding. Then place the pudding on top of the rack.
Fill the pot up with boiling water until halfway up the pudding. The water should not touch the greaseproof paper or foil otherwise they will soak it up and the pudding will go soggy. Place the lid on the pot and turn the heat on so the water is kept at a simmer.
Steam for four hours, checking the water level occasionally and topping up if necessary.
Remove the pudding from the pot then leave to cool. Once cool re-wrap the pudding in fresh greaseproof paper and foil and store in a cool dark place until Christmas Day.
On Christmas Day re-heat the pudding by steaming again on the wire rack in the pot, the same way as before. Your pudding will only need two hours this time.
Turn your pudding out onto a serving plate and serve immediately with the Cointreau sauce.

Cointreau Sauce

Melt the butter in a large saucepan then add the sweet rice flour.
Pour in the milk gradually and bring the sauce up to a gentle boil. Add the sugar and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
Pour in the cream and bring the sauce to a low simmer.
Finally turn off heat and add the Cointreau. Serve hot with the Christmas pudding.

Notes

Suet

It’s just not possible to buy gluten-free pre-packaged suet (unless you choose the vegetarian suet which is not my favourite ingredient. So do speak to your local butcher about obtaining fresh suet. It will come in a solid block which you will need to grate with a bit of gluten-free flour so that it can evenly disperse throughout the mincemeat.

Flour substitutions

If you don’t want to use these gluten-free flours then you can replace with the same amount of wheat flour. The results will not be affected at all.
Teff flour > You can swap for oat flour, sorghum flour or buckwheat flour.
Tapioca starch > You can swap for arrowroot powder, potato starch or cornflour.
You can swap the same quantity of teff flour + tapioca starch for your favourite brand of all-purpose gluten-free flour or my Homemade Gluten-Free Flour Blend.
The sweet rice flour in the Cointreau Sauce can be subbed for cassava flour but I don’t recommend using an all-purpose gluten-free flour here as they don’t make the best sauces.

Mixed Spice

I urge you to make your own mixed spice which tastes so much better than shop bought. This recipe is also ideal if you can't find it in your local grocery store British Mixed Spice Recipe.

Eggs

The eggs used in this recipe are medium size, 60g with shell and 50g without shell. If you can't get hold of medium eggs I suggest you weigh the amount.

Make the Cointreau Sauce ahead

You can make it up to 3 days ahead of the day you want to serve it. Store in the fridge in an airtight container and re-heat by bringing it up to a gentle simmer on the hob.

Re-heating the Christmas Pudding

I don’t recommend re-heating your pudding in the microwave on Christmas Day. This method is fine for cheeky leftovers in between Christmas and New Year but it shouldn’t be the way you serve your pudding initially. It just doesn’t give as good a result and you’ll ruin all your hard work of making your own pudding by blasting it in the microwave.

Ingredient measurements

US customary measurements for the ingredients provided are based on a conversion calculator. This recipe was tested with metric measurements and I recommend using a digital scale to weigh ingredients for the most accurate results. READ MORE >>> Why you should always weigh vs measuring with cups

Nutrition information

Please note that the nutrition information provided below is an estimate based on an online nutrition calculator. It will vary based on the specific ingredients you use. Please seek a professional nutritionist’s advice for further clarification.

The nutrition serving is for 1 serving of pudding with Cointreau Sauce, assuming it is portioned into 10 servings.

Nutrition