“I hope there’s pudding!”
― J.K. Rowling
Well, I have some good news, J.K.!
There is pudding!
A very antipodean HOT WEATHER take on Christmas pudding, to be more precise!
Because it’s an ice cream pudding.
And it’s 100% AIP-compliant, too. That is – dairy free, nut free, alcohol free, added sugar free (and all the other appropriate ‘frees’!)
Of course, if you happen to love ice cream as much as I love ice cream, then it’s never too cold to indulge. Even when it’s snowing outside…
You know we do things upside down in this part of the world, don’t you?
Not for us the rugged up scenes of egg nog in front of the fire. Nope. No romantic snow fall here. No sir!
In fact, Christmas dinner for us probably includes prawns (or at least seafood of some description) – often cooked on the barbecue. And, usually we’ll have a wee dip in the water at the beach, too.
Pavlova or trifle are popular for dessert…
But this year, I thought I’d try something a little different! Especially since I’m so in love with my “I can’t believe it’s AIP” Christmas Mince! Any excuse to scoff down some more of that supremely good nosh, even if I do say so myself!
This little number may take a while to make, but it is not at all labour intensive – the freezer does most of your work for you. And – you don’t need an ice cream maker. Just a little patience!
I think it is well worthwhile taking the time to imbue the coconut cream with the Christmas spices overnight – it gives your pudding a lovely depth of flavour. It also gives you the necessary time to whip up a batch of Christmas mince, if you haven’t already done so!
This recipe serves six. If you’re feeding a crowd, you could easily double or triple it. Alternatively, if you’d prefer – you could make little individual puddings with dariole molds or ramekins.
However you decide to eat your ‘Down Under’ Ice Cream Christmas Pudding or where ever in the world you are celebrating the festive season, I hope you have a wonderful day surrounded by people you love.
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon mace
- 4 cloves
- 2 x 400 mls tins of coconut milk
- 1 teaspoon alcohol free vanilla essence
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- coconut oil (for greasing)
- 1 cup 'I Can't Believe It's AIP' Christmas Mince*
- 50 g coconut sugar
- 100g frozen cranberries
- For the ice cream, pop the spices into a medium saucepan and heat gently until fragrant, stirring once or twice, approximately 3 minutes or so. Add the coconut milk, maple syrup and vanilla essence, and bring to a low simmer. Now pour everything into a glass bowl or ceramic container and leave to cool completely. Chill overnight in the fridge (this will infuse the ice cream with a stronger Christmassy spice flavour).
- If you haven't already done so, now's the time to prepare your Christmas fruit mince.
- Pass the coconut infused spice mix through a sieve into another container. Freeze for 4 - 5 hours, stirring with a fork every hour until you have a smooth, thick mix.
- Oil a pudding basin or bowl and line it with cling film. Stir the Christmas mince into the ice cream. Tip the mix into the basin and cover with cling film. Freeze for at least 4 hours.
- For the topping, pop your coconut sugar and frozen cranberries into a small saucepan. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 2 minutes. Cool completely.
- To serve, remove the pudding from the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before turning onto a plate. Carefully remove the cling film away. Spoon the cranberries and syrup over the top.
*AIP Christmas Fruit Mince recipe
…and if you’re looking for some further AIP Christmas inspiration, check out my VERY Merry AIP Christmas Mince Pies!
H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !
This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable.
