Rather than spending hot summer days with the oven on for 4 hours while the Christmas Cake cooks, my family tradition is for an easy Ice-cream Pudding. It is as simple as letting the ice-cream soften, and mixing in the ingredients before re-freezing. No cooking is needed.
Ingredients
- 1 Litre Vanilla Ice-cream
- 1 Litre Caramel Ice-cream
- 1 ½ cups mixed dried fruit
- 1 cup mixed glace fruit, chopped
- ½ cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted and chopped (see notes below)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
How to make it:
- Remove ice-cream from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for approximately half an hour before using it. It should have a soft, folding consistency, but not be fully melted.
- Place ice-cream in a large mixing bowl. Using a metal spoon, fold in dried fruits, nuts and cinnamon.
- Spoon mixture into a ring cake tin, or decorative cake tin. Store covered with plastic wrap in the freezer for several hours or until firm.
- Remove the Christmas pudding from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.
Pudding can be made up to one week ahead.
Notes:
I like to use plain slivered almonds, and not worry chopping or roasting them, leave them out if there are people with nut allergies coming for dinner. For the dried fruit, I use a mix of sultanas, currants, raisins and mixed peel. With the glace fruit, if you can use a mix of green and red cherries the colour is lovely when cut. It can be hard to find glace pineapple or ginger, both add beautifully to the flavour, sometimes health food stores will have stocks close to Christmas. This year I plan to try freezing the mix in silicone muffin trays, so that we can have individual serves - with a little melted chocolate drizzled over.
Suggestions for other fun ways to decorate it are with things like puree and whole berries, fresh mint, chocolate sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, smarties, mini meringues, marshmallows, crushed Tim-Tams, or Maltesers. Or add your favourite choice of sweets. A super-easy way to do melted chocolate is using Cottees "choc - magic", maybe add some edible silver sprinkles.
And, if you like the established Christmas tradition of the coin's in your Christmas pudding, you can now purchase special packs of sixpence and threepence pre-decimal currency. Waring - Chocking Hazard - Not recommended for children under 3 years or people with swallowing difficulty. Available from the Royal Australian Mint Christmas Pudding Coin Pack and also through the Perth Mint.
I hope you have fun making, and eating this version of Christmas ice-cream pudding!
Another recipe you may enjoy is White Christmas Rocky Road
IDEAS does information so you can do life. We are a non-profit disability information provider. We provide information that is free, accurate and independent. Always. Connect with us today.
