Delicious recipes to use up leftover Christmas pudding, from cake pops to crumble

8 December 2020, 19:15 | Updated: 9 December 2020, 06:48

Christmas pudding is actually a lot more versatile than you might think, and these imaginative recipes reveal exciting ways to enjoy the traditional festive dessert.

Christmas puddings used to be a highlight of the festive menu... and they could be again thanks to these unique recipes.

The traditional dessert is decreasing in popularity with younger diners, with new research from Tesco discovering that just 44 per cent of Brits will be tucking in to one on December 25th - and most of them are from the older generation.

The Tesco Christmas Report revealed that six in 10 (59 per cent) of over 55s will enjoy a Christmas pudding dessert on Christmas Day, twice as many as 18-34-year-olds (28 per cent).

So if you find yourself with a rubble of left over pud on Boxing Day, don't throw it away.

These simple recipes will not only stop food waste, but might also win over younger generations who never knew Christmas Pudding could be so delicious.

Christmas pud cake pops

Ingredients:

80g unsalted butter

125g (4oz) sifted icing sugar

70g (2 1/2oz) finely grated dark chocolate

350g fruit cake/Christmas pudding

100g (3 1/2oz) Natural Colour Marzipan

Red food colouring, green food colouring

70g (2 1/2oz) sifted icing sugar

Method:
Cream together 80g (3oz) unsalted butter and 125g (4oz) sifted icing sugar until pale and fluffy. Stir in 70g (2 1/2oz) finely grated dark chocolate and 350g (11 1⁄2oz) fruit cake, in fine crumbs, and mix well. Form spoonfuls of the mixture into 24 balls. Arrange on a lined baking tray and cover loosely with clingfilm. Chill until set (at least 2 hours).

Colour 100g (3 1⁄2oz) natural colour marzipan, half red and half green with food colouring. Roll the red into tiny balls for holly berries. Roll the green into larger balls and flatten between finger and thumb to form a leaf shape. Mark in the leaf veins. 

Mix a little cold water, a drop at a time, into 70g (2 1/2oz) sifted icing sugar to form a stiff paste. Drizzle a little on top of each cake pop to look like sauce. Decorate the tops with a few holly berries and green leaves. Serve on wooden or plastic sticks.

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Christmas Crumble

Serves 4 / 15 mins to prepare and 35 mins to cook

Ingredients:

30g British unsalted butter

30g light brown soft sugar

1 Bramley apple, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces

150g blackberries

½ tsp ground cinnamon

For the topping

120g plain flour

30g caster sugar

30g demerara sugar

60g British unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

25g blanched hazelnuts, roughly chopped

75g leftover cooked Christmas pudding, crumbled into small pieces

Cream, vanilla ice cream or custard to serve (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to gas 5, 190°C, fan 170°C. Put the butter and sugar in a medium pan and heat gently until melted and combined. Add the apple and cook for 3 mins, stirring to coat in the butter. Add the pears, blackberries and cinnamon and cook for another 1 min. Tip into a large ovenproof dish.

For the crumble topping, put the flour, caster sugar, demerara sugar and cubed butter into a large bowl. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir through the hazelnuts and crumbled Christmas pudding.

Scatter the crumble mixture over the top of the prepared fruit. Bake for 25 mins or until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Serve hot with cream, custard or vanilla ice cream, if you like.

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 Christmas pudding ice cream cones

Ingredients:

400g light custard

150g leftover Christmas pudding

Method:

To make the cones, cut 15cm squares of thick paper and nonstick baking paper. Lay a square of baking paper on one sheet of paper and roll into a cone (baking paper inside). Make sure the narrow end is tight and stick with sticky tape. Make four cones and put in narrow glasses such as champagne flutes.

Now make the ice cream. By hand: chill a freezer-safe bowl, then add the custard and put in the bottom of the freezer. Every 10 minutes, mix to break up the crystals. When almost set, mix in the Christmas pudding, crumbled. Freeze for 10 minutes, then check the consistency and mix again. Repeat until you have the texture of ice cream.

With an ice-cream maker: set according to the instructions. Pour in the custard and churn until almost set. Crumble in the Christmas pudding and continue to churn until blended.

Spoon the ice cream into the cones, pushing the mix down to the bottom and ensuring the top is flat, for when serving. Put in the freezer to set firm.

To serve, unfold and stand, pointed end uppermost, on plates. Decorate with silver balls or your own choice.