[Jim]

We are making the pudding for christmas day at my mum & dad's and need some suggestions for something amazing to make.
Obviously NOT christmas cake/pudding etc.... something good.
Cheers

[saltbeef]

how about curling out a yuletide log

[cofe]

Christmas pudding should be the only option ken. Back around.

[Dr T]

Just sitting eating a Panettone (admittedly a store bought one) with a twist.
I'm a fan of dried fuit so luckily someone has thoughtfully decided that replacing the raisans etc with chocolate chips was a good idea - and it is 
anyways here's a recipe for the usual fruit based version

[dave]

Basically there are two types of people. People who like xmas pudding, and idiots. Make sure you're on the right side of the fence.

If you insist on batting for the other team though, hows about an apple and mincemeat crumble?

[fried]

I'll agree with you on the Christmas Pudding but there are only two variations on crumble :- apple and rhubarb. anything else is sacrilege.

[sjw]

Saw this on tele this morning and it looked like a beauty crumble alternative. The link doesn't have a photo though, and as a rule of thumb I don't follow any recipe without a picture of the final product. I suppose if you were keen you could watch Saturday Kitchen again on iPlayer.

[Jim]

to be honest, don't really want any sort of crumble, nothing cristmas related either.

[Somebody's Fool]

Why not bake a cake in the shape of a kayaker? Nothing Christmassy about that. Unless it's you in the kayak of course.

[soapy]

baked alaska jim, a doddle to make and always wows the punters





or just take arctic roll round

[dave]

to be honest, don't really want any sort of crumble, nothing cristmas related either.

Alright then, here you go. I've made it tons of times, its fucking off the hook:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/whitechocolatewhisky_86302

[Jim]

thats more like it. keep em coming

[fatboySlimfast]

I'm with jim on xmas pudding, fine after a salad but a grim experience after 10000 calories of mixed protein and starch yuletide flavours

[The Sausage]

Yo Jim,
I have squillions of really good pudding recipes... what sort of thing are you thinking? How much effort do you want to put in? Do you want to make it in advance? How many are you making it for?

Here are a few suggestions, I can email recipes or find links if you decide which..?

Lemon & passionfruit (optional) roulade: Basically you make a rectangular almost flour-less lemon 'sponge' - it's basically baked mousse - very light and tangy. Spread it with lemon curd and whipped cream & roll. You can drizzle with passionfruit gunk to serve. It looks good and tastes really light & zingy, although is pretty rich. (It's from Nigel Slater's Kitchen diaries) Easy to make, you can make the base the day before, and roll on the day.

Flourless chocolate roulade - very similar to above, but chocolate. You spread it with choc mousse & whipped cream. Best served with raspberry coulis. Very rich, but fucking brilliant. (From Delia's complete cookery course)

Clafoutis - this is PISS to make and very very tasty - it's basically baked custard. I chop some very dark (80%) chocolate and sprinkle it on, and serve with cherries (you can get frozen ones) and double cream. It takes 40mins to make from go to whoa, and is awesome.

Lemon tart - making a classic french lemon tart (or lime) is surprisingly easy. I have a few really good recipes. Very classy and impressive, and obviously delicious.

Lemon meringue pie - classic! I made one last week. A bit fiddly, but well worth it. It's quite tricky to make, and time consuming, but really really good.

Tiramisu - again, a bit fiddly but very easy.

Can't remember the name, but the classic italian dessert of rock hard vanilla ice cream with a piping hot espresso poured over the top is unbeatable. You need to serve the ice cream into bowls, and put these into the freezer, so everything is totally rock hard before pouring the coffee over.

Lemon pousset - this is basically lemons and whipped cream. Couldn't be easier, and very tasty.

Self-saucing pudding (choc or lemon) - Basically a baked mousse, but you put the baking dish in a larger dish with water in, so the water comes halfway up the baking dish. It means the top is light and airy/spongy, and the bottom half is gooey. Yum.

Steamed Sponge puddings - again, very easy to make. You can get plastic puddign basins so you don't need to worry too much about tieing them up with string and all that to boil them.

Cheesecake - I made a well good orange & lemon cheesecake for Vics' birthday. It was cream cheese, double cream and mascapone. Ver rich. Yum.

Will have a look through some books if none of these hit the spot...

[Bonjoy]

We're making a Lime Tart acording to a Nigel Slater recipe and having with a home made dark chocolate mouse. Have done this recipe before and it was tres bon. Quite fiddly with the pastry but worth the effort. Recipe here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/feb/20/foodanddrink.recipes

[GCW]

Go with Nik's cheesecake, although everyone may die from cholesterol poisoning.

[dave]

You're wasting your time gents, cos i already posted the white chocolate croissant pudding days ago. Talk about closing the stable door after the horse has reequipped a sport route.

[The Sausage]

White chocolate is the world's shittest cooking ingredient.

[The Sausage]

...though I have to admit that using croissants (or brioche) makes a great bread & butter pudding. Substitute the white chocolate for Green & Blacks mayan gold and I reckon you'll have a pudding to shout about...

[Jim]

thanks for all the suggestions there Mr Sausage.
I think we're going to try Dave's white chocolate croissant pud, she has her reservations but I love white chocolate.
I'll get her to have a look through your suggestions, see If there is owt she fancies and can put a good argument for.
Mind you that would involve going down to the cellar and unshackling her

[The Sausage]

White chocolate. My god, what is the world coming to? If it's not brown, it ain't chocolate.

[sidewinder]

...though I have to admit that using croissants (or brioche) makes a great bread & butter pudding.

Depending on your preferences malt loaf can also make a pretty mean (if slightly heavy) bread and butter pudding, alternate with brioche/normal bread to keep it getting too much.

[Bonjoy]

White chocolate. My god, what is the world coming to? If it's not brown, it ain't chocolate.

Ditto. It's little better than sweetened margarine. What next, white coffee aka milky water?

[dave]

I'm not saying sit down to a fucking plate of milkybar. You people.

[Sloper]

Poached pears.

1 williams or similar pear per person
1 bot of sweet white wine.
spices, cinamon stick, star anise, whole cloves, whole nutmeg, black pepper, lemon zest
3 tsp vanilla sugar
good chocolate
double cream

Put all your spices in a pan and add the zest of a lemon and the wine.
Reduce by 30% or so.

Peel the pears and rinse each in lemon juice to stop them going brown.

strain the wine reduction and place the pears in the wine for about 10 minutes on a low heat until a bamboo skewer or similar goes in about 2/3 of the way into the thickest part with ease.

remove the pears and in a deep bowl cover with about 1/2 the wine.

reduce the other half vigorously until it forms a thin syrup then leave to half cool.

Over a bain marie melt the chocoalte and blend in the syurp and cream to form a rich sauce.

Swirl this on a palte with some double cream and arrange your pear to your artistic bent.

Grate over some nutmeg and serve with a good sweet white or a tawny port.

[Percy B]

Maybe try this. Don't be put off. I know its a recipe from the 'Fat-tongued Cunt' himself, and is a bit 'Christmassy', but it is a winner. Tried and tested. Its tha bombe......geddit?!

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pastry-cake/winter-pudding-bombe

[Sloper]

For a moment I thought we were going to fall out there.

[Percy B]

The mockney twat has got/nicked so many recipes that even he must have found the odd good one, as the one above unfortunately is. I know it's no excuse - I heard on the radio today that his 30 minute dinners book is selling 10,000 copies an hour at the moment.

As way of an apology, Slopes, I can offer you this. A bastard to make, desperate to get right, expensive, and absolutely gorgeous. Tres bon, Raymond!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gateaualacrme_93878

[Sloper]

I just wish he had to win a star before ever appearing in the popular press again.