Portuguese Christmas Pudding

Merry Christmas!!!! I wish you all the very happiest of days, and I know this recipe of a Portuguese Christmas Pudding or Pudim de Natal might be a bit too late for you to make for Christmas day, but it’s good any time of the year, hehehe.

While the recipe for Portuguese Christmas Pudding may vary from region to region in Portugal, the essence of the dish is the same, this variation is one of my favorites mostly because it’s a condensed milk based one, that makes it less heavy and more forgiving when it’s cooking, also it’s flavored with orange and that helps cut a bit of the sweetness, it’s a delicious combination, let’s check the recipe!

Servings: 16
Time: 1hr 20mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Classic portuguese style pudding, very common on any Christmas table, this a lighter condensed milk based pudding recipe with less eggs and a hint of orange.

Ingredients

Condensed Milk – 400gr (1 Can)
Milk – 200ml (Semi-skimmed)
Eggs – 6
Orange – 100ml Juice
Orange – 1 Peel
Sugar – 300gr
Water – 100ml

Directions

Start by making the caramel in a saucepan, add the sugar and water, let this slowly come to a boil over medium heat, then let it cook without stirring, you will see that it will start to become more yellow, brown and when it is getting thicker and beginning to turn dark brown then it’s ready, please be careful handling hot caramel.
Pour the caramel into the pudding tin, try to move it so to coat the sides well and set aside, preheat the oven to 220ºC.
Now in a small pan heat the milk with the orange zest on low heat.
Separately, in a bowl, beat the eggs one by one with the condensed milk until you get a creamy mixture, add the orange juice and beat some more.
When the milk is very hot, pour it into the condensed milk mixture, stirring constantly until everything is well mixed.
Finally, pass the liquid through a sieve (to collect orange pieces, lumps, etc) to make sure you have a final creamy pudding, drain into the form already coated with caramel.
Put a tray of water in the oven and put the pudding in it to bake in a water bath for about 45 minutes (pay attention if you need to add more water to the tray).

Then remove the pudding from the oven and let it cool down, finally put it in the fridge to cool completely and set, and it’s now bon appétit and Merry Christmas!

Notes: Like most puddings, if you have issues un-molding, just put it on a small pan with warm water, this will loosen the pudding from the mold.

You can skip making the caramel if you don’t have time, or you are making this with children, just buy ready-made caramel sauce and use that.

This recipe for Portuguese Christmas Pudding was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Pudim Cremoso de Natal foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.