Christmas Pudding Cheesecake

Do you have a left-over lump of Christmas pudding sheltering in your fridge?  Yes, of course you do! And the best way to use it up is to turn it into a very delicious cheesecake.   This is an adaptation of a BBC Good Food Recipe, which I tested on my family.  Result!  One more pudding to add to the repertoire!  not to mention several more pounds on the family's avoirdupois... This is not a gelatine cheesecake, but it is an idea to chill it overnight.  Failing that, an hour in the freezer does it the world of good.  Apparently, this will keep for 3 days - haven't tested that bit yet!  Try making it with gluten free biscuits, and then all your wheat-free friends will be happy too.

Christmas Pudding Cheesecake 

Christmas Pudding Cheesecake

8oz/225g ginger nut/hob nob biscuits, crushed to crumbs

4oz/110g butter

8oz/225g Christmas pudding (you don’t have to be too exact!)

Zest 1 orange

60ml brandy (or 30ml each brandy and stout)

1lb 6oz/600g cream cheese or soft cheese

10fl oz/300ml double cream (half a pint)

7oz/200g pale muscovado sugar

1 vanilla pod’s worth of seeds

(I added a tablespoon of chopped stem ginger and syrup)

2 clementines for decoration

Line a 9” spring clip tin with parchment.   Melt the butter in a bowl, add the biscuit crumbs, mix well and spread them over the base of the tin.  Chill in the fridge until set. 

Blend together the Christmas pudding, alcohol and orange zest until it is a lumpy purée.  Using a hand held whisk, beat together the cream cheese and sugar, adding the cream and vanilla seeds.   Now add the pudding purée (and ginger), and mix it all gently together.  Pour into the tin and level it up.  Chill for at least couple of hours until set (see above).

You are now supposed to cut the clementines into rounds, and put them on a baking tray, sprinkling with caster sugar and blow torching until they are caramelised.  As you can see from my photo, this didn’t quite happen!  Hope you do better than I did…