This old-fashioned Carrot Christmas Pudding recipe is packed with nostalgia and flavour – and much easier to prepare than a traditional Christmas Pudding.
These mini carrot puddings are light, sweet and moist. A little like carrot cake crossed with Christmas pudding.
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The recipe
This was a recipe recorded by Nana Ling on 17 October 1939. I have to admit that I was curious but not overly confident about this recipe. Carrots and pudding... hmmm. But then carrot cake is hugely popular, so why not carrot pudding?
Keep scrolling for the tested, tasted and updated recipe in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Ingredient notes
I made up this recipe with a lovely bunch of dutch carrots. You could use any type of carrots, though.
Apart from carrots, to make this carrot pudding you'll need butter, brown sugar, milk, spices, SR flour (or plain/all purpose flour and baking powder), bicarb soda, dates and other dried fruits and a little jam.
You could serve the pudding with custard, or make it extra festive with brandy custard. Here, though, I've served it with a wonderful warm vanilla sauce. To make the sauce, you'll need sugar, cornflour, spices, vanilla essence, butter and cream cheese.
A full list of ingredients and quantities can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
How to make Carrot Christmas Pudding
There are clear steps for making this pudding in the recipe card at the end of this post. As I mentioned above, I've included Nana Ling's recipe above but please keep scrolling to the recipe card at the end of the post for the tested and tweaked recipe.
Often, Nana Ling's recipes are a little tricky to decipher. But I'm learning to speak her language as I continue to make my way through her recipe collection. And I enjoy the thrill of solving the puzzle. This recipe called for a "small cup" of milk. She's confused me with this one before, but previous recipes (and disasters) have taught me that it is usually roughly equivalent to ¾ of a metric cup. So, with a little guess-timation and fingers firmly crossed, I cooked this recipe with a few little tweaks. And the result was... fabulous!
Enjoying and storing your pudding
I've paired the puddings here with a warm vanilla sauce but they'd be equally lovely with custard. Serve them warm on a crisp winter afternoon, then curl up on a sofa with a book. That would be ideal, right?
It's not quite how I enjoyed them. It was more like, sneak away from the kids for a few moments, scoff one down and then face the mess you've made in the kitchen. But they were absolutely divine and still managed to take me away, briefly, to a blissful place.
If – like me – you're an Aussie, you can also cook them up on a stinking hot Christmas day in place of a traditional plum pudding.
You can serve them warm or cold – the choice is yours! Re-heat by placing individual servings in the microwave for 10-20 seconds.
Your puddings can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Freeze in an airtight container for up to a few months. Defrost overnight at room temperature before serving.
More Christmas cheer
Some more festive favourites from the pages of Nana Ling's handwritten recipe books:
Made this recipe and love it? Please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. (And it really makes my day to hear how Nana Ling's recipes are being made, shared and loved all around the world! - Libby x)
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Carrot Christmas Pudding
Ingredients
Sweet Carrot Pudding
- 1 ½ cups SR flour (or 1.5 cups plain/all purpose flour plus 3 teaspoons baking powder)
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 teaspoon mixed spice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup finely chopped dates
- 1 cup sultanas
- ¼ cup chopped mixed peel
- ¾ cup finely grated carrot
- 2 tablespoons raspberry jam (or any other dark jam)
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 40 grams butter
Warm Vanilla Sauce
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups cold water
- 50 grams butter
- 50 grams Philadelphia cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 pinch nutmeg
Instructions
Sweet Carrot Pudding
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius / 340 degrees fahrenheirt(fan-forced).
- Sift flour, salt, bicarb soda and spices into a large bowl.
- Add dates, sultanas, peel and carrot and stir to combine.
- Combine milk and jam and whisk to combine.
- Mix butter and sugar in a stand mixer on med-high for 3 minutes.
- Add milk and jam along with butter and sugar mixture to the bowl and stir all ingredients well to combine. The mixture should be a little more moist than scone mixture.
- Spoon mixture into well-greased patty tins (12 cups, unlined/no cases.)
- Sit patty tins into a larger baking tray and add water to the bottom of the tray so the bottom ⅓ of the patty tins are sitting in water.
- Place trays into oven and cook for 30 minutes.
- Once removed from the oven, allow to cool for 10 minutes before easing each pudding out of the tin to serve. (Or allow to cool completely and warm to serve later - or enjoy cold if you prefer!)
Warm Vanilla Sauce
- Whisk sugar, cornflour, salt and water in a saucepan. Heat, continuing to stir regularly, until thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
- Add warm sauce when serving puddings.
Madeleine Hanley says
Hi Libby, this recipe looks like it may well be one to keep at the ready. Yes, our Christmases can be something else weather wise. I'm looking forward to giving this a go. How did you know I had heaps of carrots in the vegetable crisper that needed some attention? I was thinking carrot cake but this is so much more interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Libby says
Hi Madeleine. You're welcome - thanks for commenting ? I was thinking carrot cake too until I came across this one in Nana Ling's recipe book. Hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Libby