Once upon a time…
The story starts some years ago. I’d been making Christmas puddings for the family and select friends, and they’d always had great reviews – but maybe that’s what you expect from family and friends. One year, I decided I would give one to a dear friend and industry colleague, whose name is Mark.
Mark raved about the pudding. I was delighted that he had enjoyed his present so much, but then thought no more of it, until the following year and a request from the very same Mark. Could we make 100 small puddings to be table favours at a LACA Christmas event? I had a think, and yes, I decided we could. So we did, and the reception that these puddings got gave us the confidence to start doing more.
The following year, Mark again requested 100 puddings as table favours for an NACC dinner, but this time full size. This was a much bigger project, but we sourced the necessary ingredients, and after few energetic sessions in the kitchen, the puddings were again a huge success.
To cut a long story short, the word has continued to spread and year by year we’ve had more and more requests for puddings. We’ve had some amazing and truly moving stories back from people who’ve enjoyed their puddings and had Christmas stories to tell.
So now, Delicious By Design Christmas Puddings are A Thing, and their production and sale is part of our community activity every year. Each year we donate the profits from pudding sales to a good cause; some local and some national. It feels like the whole process spreads smiles and goodwill.
2020
This year has been very different, but we’re not going to let it stop us. We know that, this year, there may be very little in the way of big family get-togethers, or Christmas parties, but we still want to do something to help. So, we decided we can do two things:
Firstly, we’re still making a limited number of puddings available for sale at £15.00 each, including delivery. To support the hospitality industry which has been hit so hard this year, all profits will go to this years cause, Hospitality Action.
Update
As of 18th November, all of our 2020 Christmas puddings are sold out! Thank you to everybody who bought one; you are supporting a worthy cause. You can now use the button below to make sure you are notified before the 2021 puddings go on sale next autumn.
You can register to be notified about 2021 puddings here:
Chefs tip: Wrapped up nicely, these puddings also make fantastic Christmas gifts.
~ Louise
Secondly, we’re making the recipe available here, with a short video to show how it’s done. If you’ve always fancied making your own Christmas pudding, give it a try! We’d love to hear how you get on, see your pictures, and answer any questions you have. You can contact us via the comments below or on social media.
Thank You…
My thanks to Mark Taylor at Premier Foods for the original inspiration to go further, to Tony Ball at Bidfoods and Cathy Amos at Brakes for their support in the early days, and to James Kennedy at James Kennedy Photography for the photography and filming.
