16 Figgy Pudding Recipes You Should Make This Christmas (2024)

We wish you a Merry Christmas; we wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish…

We’re all familiar with the song, but do you remember the lyrics about bringing me some figgy pudding? What does this even mean?

Well, it is an actual Christmas dessert. It doesn’t look anything like pudding, but it’s been a popular winter dessert for many years.

I’m going to share with you multiple pudding recipes. You can decide which one you like best if you might like it at all, and which one you may even be willing to serve to your loved ones this holiday season.

At the very least, the next time you sing ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’ you’ll know what this pudding is.

Here are the figgy pudding recipes to choose from:

16 Figgy Pudding Recipes You Should Make This Christmas (1)

1. Figgy Pudding Cobbler

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This recipe is one the creator made similar to her peach cobbler recipe because she loved it a great deal.

Therefore, in the place of the peaches, she added figs. If you’re new to the figgy pudding idea, this recipe may be an excellent way to get your feet wet.

2. Christmas Figgy Pudding

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I love this recipe because she walks you through the entire history of figgy pudding before giving you a traditional figgy pudding recipe.

It is a moist cake made with figs and finished off with a delicious toffee sauce. Considering I have fig trees in my yard, I’m excited to put them to use on this recipe.

3. What the Heck is Figgy Pudding?

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I’m with the title of this recipe. I wondered for years what the heck figgy pudding was. Now that I know, and I’m excited about it.

Thisrecipe is another traditional figgy pudding (cake) recipe, but instead of being finished with a sauce, they call only for whipped cream.

4. The Chocolate Figgy Pudding

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If you haven’t figured it out by now, this pudding is a moist fruit cake. It isn’t a pudding (or what most Americans would consider a pudding.)

However, this traditional pudding cake recipe calls for added chocolate to the recipe. It also says you can add nuts or even raisins for a bolder flavor.

5. Warm Sticky Figgy Pudding

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If the warm and sticky part didn’t grab your attention with a dessert, keep reading because you’re going to love this one.

This figgy pudding recipe is pretty traditional, but it’s topped with a cream and brown sugar sauce. Ice cream is added to it with fresh whipped cream and a fig. How have we not had this every Christmas of my life?

6. Crock Pot Figgy Pudding

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If you’ve been around this blog long, you know anything I can make in a crockpot instantly makes it better in my book.

Even figgy pudding can now be created in a crockpot. Not only can you have a traditional dessert, but it can be made with little effort. Does this count as a Christmas miracle?

7. Christmas Pudding with Brandy Custard

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Figgy pudding is also referred to as Christmas pudding. This is a traditional Irish recipe, and they also share how to make a brandy custard to accompany the pudding.

It may be a whole new experience for you, but I say try it at least once and see if your taste buds dance.

8. The Bundt Figgy Pudding

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This pudding simplifies things when baking it because though she uses a traditional recipe, it’s baked in a bundt cake form for simplicity’s sake.

Even so, she also shares how to make a hard sauce (also known as a rum or bourbon sauce.) Plus, she shares how to flame your figgy pudding. Yes, they used to serve figgy pudding while it was on fire.

9. Genius Kitchen Figgy Pudding

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Most recipes you find with pudding are almost the same, but they have a few slight differences. This recipe calls for breadcrumbs where other recipes do not.

Still, it also goes back to tradition by serving the pudding in a bundt cake form with a hard sauce.

10. The Fruitier Figgy Pudding

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This pudding uses extra fruits the other recipes did not. It does call for dried figs, but it also uses currants, dried cranberries, and dried apricots.

If you might prefer a figgy pudding with more of a fruity flavor, you might want to give this recipe a try.

11. Brown Butter Gingerbread Figgy Pudding

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This is another spin on pudding which sounds delicious. In the place of the bread crumbs, they call for gingerbread cookie crumbs or graham cracker crumbs.

Plus, they finish the individual puddings off with a delicious brown butter glaze. It looks like Christmas on a plate.

12. Paleo Gluten and Dairy Free Figgy Pudding

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If you have food allergies or are trying to avoid certain types of foods for any reason, this recipe could help you to enjoy figgy pudding.

This recipe uses coconut flour in the place of all-purpose and also recommends subbing out the butter for ghee.

13. Steamed Fig Pudding

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In some cases, pudding is steamed, not baked. It depends on how the recipe tells you to prepare it.

In this case, the recipe calls for boiling the pudding (in a situation similar to using a double-boiler) instead of baking it. It’s an unusual cooking method but would undoubtedly be one worth trying.

14. Christmas Figgy Pudding

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I like this recipe for a figgy pudding because it looks simple and also gives you options. She walks you through the process of steaming the pudding if you prefer the traditional flavor.

However, she also shares with you how to bake the pudding as well. There’s no hard sauce included in this recipe. It’s recommended to finish the cake with powdered sugar or whipped cream.

15. Figgy Pudding Trifle with Brandy

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Thistrifle is a different twist on the traditional pudding. You begin the trifle with trifle sponges in the bottom.

From there, they’re topped with a mixture of fig, brandy, sugar, and allspice. The dish is finished with custard, lemon double cream, and a candied lemon peel.

16. Newfoundland Figgy Duff

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This recipe has nothing to do with figs. I learned through reading it; raisins were once also referred to as figs. Whether figgy pudding was initially made with raisins or figs, I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

However, this recipe is a steamed or boiled pudding recipe. If you aren’t a huge fan of the many spices in a traditional pudding, check out this one because it includes only basic ingredients such as flour, sugar, vanilla extract, milk, and a few other basics too.

You now have 16 different options for trying pudding. It’s different than many of our more modern desserts, but it’s good to bring back traditions from previous generations to avoid losing them.

I hope you’ll find this traditional Christmas dessert delicious and consider making it a part of your holidays in the future.

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16 Figgy Pudding Recipes You Should Make This Christmas (2024)

FAQs

What is figgy pudding in the Christmas song? ›

Figgy pudding is a pudding in the British sense of the word, which means it is a steamed cakelike dessert. This particular Christmas version is traditionally made with suet (which is raw beef or mutton fat), eggs, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, spices, dried fruits and, last -- but certainly not least --- brandy.

What ingredients is in figgy pudding? ›

What Is Figgy Pudding Made Of? Traditional figgy pudding is a holiday dish made with flour, suet (a type of hard animal fat), figs, and other dried fruits. Some more modern versions, like this one, are made without suet.

What do the 13 ingredients in a Christmas pudding represent? ›

However, it was the Victorians who fine tuned the recipe into the Christmas pudding many of us enjoy today. A Christmas pudding should have 13 ingredients – that represent Jesus and the 12 disciples.

Which Christmas Carol demands figgy pudding? ›

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

It's not entirely certain where the carol that contains the famous reference to a figgy pudding comes from. In 1939, a composer named Arthur Warrell received a copyright for the carol “A Merry Christmas,” but acknowledged that it was an arrangement of a traditional English song.

What does bring me some figgy pudding mean? ›

The song was written in England during the sixteenth-century, at a time when it was traditional for wealthy landowners to offer tasty treats to carolers on Christmas Eve. One treat that was popular at the time was clearly figgy pudding.

Why are there no figs in figgy pudding? ›

" 'Figgy' — certainly at some time figs would have been incorporated into Christmas pudding recipes, but today, not traditionally." It's also a pudding in the British sense, meaning dessert — not the creamy, custardy dish most Americans associate with the word. It's a steamed cake full of raisins, currants and brandy.

Does the alcohol cook out of figgy pudding? ›

Conclusion: Christmas puddings contain ethanol that does not all evaporate during the cooking process.

Is spam figgy pudding real? ›

Your first question might be: Is Spam Figgy Pudding a real thing? Yes, surprisingly, this collision of American canned meat and a dish seemingly out of a Dickens novel, is very very real.

Why do you put a penny in a Christmas pudding? ›

A silver sixpence was placed into the pudding mix and every member of the household gave the mix a stir. Whoever found the sixpence in their own piece of the pudding on Christmas Day would see it as a sign that they would enjoy wealth and good luck in the year to come.

What is the old name for Christmas pudding? ›

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood. In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

Why do you put a coin in a Christmas pudding? ›

It is key that every member of the family gives the pudding mixture a stir and makes a wish at the same time. Traditionally, a silver sixpence was stirred in to bring whoever found the coin on Christmas Day wealth and good luck in the year to come.

What country eats figgy pudding? ›

Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy.

Is figgy pudding British? ›

Sometimes referred to as plum pudding or Christmas pudding – we'll get to that later – figgy pudding is a type of British pudding, which is a steamed, cake-like dessert as opposed to the spoonable, thick custard that might come to mind when Americans hear the word “pudding.” Richly spiced and studded with dried fruits ...

Is it sticky pudding or figgy pudding? ›

Like the Christmas pudding and figgy puddings before it, the sticky toffee pudding is usually steamed for maximum moisture. Instead of figs, however, very finely chopped dates are added to the cake, which gets covered in a toffee sauce.

What is the origin of the figgy pudding song? ›

Its origin probably lies in the English tradition wherein wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas Eve, such as "figgy pudding" that was very much like modern-day Christmas puddings; in the West Country of England, "figgy pudding" referred to a raisin or plum pudding, not ...

What even is figgy pudding? ›

Sometimes known as Christmas pudding or plum pudding, figgy pudding is a steamed cake-like dessert made from dried fruit, flour, suet or butter and brown sugar, and typically soaked in brandy or rum.

What is the story behind Christmas pudding? ›

The pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine. It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock.

Is figgy pudding like Christmas pudding? ›

We never mass-produce our Christmas Puddings, but always make them in small batches by hand. This is the only way to capture the delightful flavour and texture of a proper homemade Christmas Pudding (also often called a figgy pudding, especially in the Westcountry).

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