This is one of our Christmas favorites, a twist on the traditional Christmas pudding. It has been adapted to our family’s dietary needs: there is no flour, grains of any kind, or added sugar, but the fat—tallow in this case (and heavy cream) —happily, has stayed put.  Since we know from experience that holidays with type I diabetes can be tricky, I’ve included carbohydrate counts as well.

 

Taken from Long Way on a Little: An earth lover’s companion for enjoying meat, pinching pennies and living deliciously.

Advanced preparation required.

Serves 16

½ cup golden raisins

½ pound dried apricots or prunes, cut into pieces

½ pound dried cranberries

½ pound pitted dates, cut into pieces

¾ cup grated raw carrots

Grated zest of ½ orange

Grated zest of ½ lemon

½ cup sherry

2 cups finely chopped pecans or walnuts

8 ounces minced tallow

3 eggs

¼ cup milk or heavy cream

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 cup cooked mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes

Rum Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Combine the fruits, carrot, and orange and lemon zests in a large bowl. Add the sherry and let stand for at least 1 hour. Meanwhile, mix the nuts and tallow together, then mix them into the sherry-soaked fruit. Beat the eggs, milk, cinnamon, allspice and salt together, then gradually blend them into the mashed potatoes. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, thoroughly combine the potatoes with the fruit.

Divide the mixture into 2 well-greased 1-quart pudding molds (coffee cans or stainless steel bowls will suffice). Fill them ¾ full. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Place the pudding molds on a rack in a large pot. Add enough boiling water to the pot to come halfway up sides of mold. Cover the pot and steam pudding over medium-low heat until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 2 hours, adding more boiling water to pot if necessary.

Remove foil, transfer mold to rack, and cool 5 minutes. Turn out the puddings onto ovenproof platters or baking pans. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate, allowing the flavors to ripen, for 2 days, or up to one week. Before serving, reheat in a 200-degree oven for about 45 minutes, or until heated through. Serve with Rum Sauce. Unused portions can be stored up to 6 months in the freezer.

Estimated Carbohydrates:

Raisins: 65.60 g

Apricots: 142.19 g

Cranberries: 186.96 g

Dates: 170.18 g

Carrots: 7.90 g

Orange zest: 1.50 g

Lemon Zest: 0.96 g

Sherry: 6 g

Pecans: 30.21 g

Eggs: 1.08 g

Milk: 2.93 g

Cinnamon: 2.10 g

Allspice: 0.17 g

Mashed potatoes: 36.90 g

Total carbohydrates per recipe: 654.68 g

Total carbohydrates per 1/16 recipe: 40.92 g

Rum Sauce

1 cup heavy cream

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons honey

½ teaspoon fine salt

1/3 cup rum

Prepare the bottom half of a double boiler with 1 inch of water and bring it to a simmer. Add all the ingredients to the top part of a double boiler and whisk well. Put the top boiler over the bottom half and whisk continuously until the sauce thickens. Serve immediately.

Estimated Carbohydrates:

Heavy cream: 6.64 g

Egg yolks: 1.83 g

Honey: 34.61 g

Total carbohydrates per recipe: 43.08 g

Total carbohydrates per 1/16 recipe: 2.69 g