Vegan varieties of our favourite Christmas puds

From start to finish, Christmas day is filled with an exceptional array of divine treats. From Bucks Fizz at breakfast, to chocolate nibbles and a glass (or two) of Irish cream liqueur at the end of the day, the festivities provide the ultimate excuse to treat yourself.

After all of the indulgence of the traditional Christmas dinner, our sweet tooth is almost immediately on the lookout for pudding. The savoury dishes are one of the day’s highlights, but few things can top traditional Christmas desserts.

All year round, we look forward to Christmas food - in terms of the pudding department, this means spices, rich chocolate and mouth-watering finger foods. These quintessentially Christmas elements make these signature festive desserts something rather special. There’s so many things that are done best at this time of year, and we think desserts are certainly one of them.

However, the last thing that you’d want is to have that endless array of treat options limited by any dietary requirements that you may have. No one should have to miss out on a slice of traditional Christmas pudding, or an after dinner chocolatey nibble. So, we’ve got just the recipes to ensure that your Christmas is all-inclusive, and your table has something available for all of your guests.

Below, we’ve provided you with our favourite two recipes for vegan varieties of divine Christmas desserts.

This includes our tasty little cookie dough morsels, which make the perfect addition to a help-yourself platter on Christmas evening. They’re vegan, suitable for keto diets and gluten-free. Plus, we love the way that they’re something rather different than just cracking open a tub of chocolates (not that we won’t have a few of those on the side, too).

Then, we’ve got a vegan reinvention of that ultimate festive showstopper - a proper, boozy, fruity Christmas pudding. What’s great about this recipe is that it’s designed to make sure that the whole family, whether they’re vegan or not, can’t taste any difference. So you don’t need to worry about making multiple puddings to suit all of your guests. It’s just as decadent, rich and enticing as you would expect from this traditional, universally loved dessert.

One thing’s for certain - with these desserts at the centrepiece of your table, you won’t have much left for Boxing Day leftovers.

First up on our round of vegan reinventions of our classic Christmas desserts is our re-invented chocolate chip cookie dough recipe. In recent years, this foodie trend has completely taken over the dessert world, and with good reason. It’s a super indulgent, squishy little mouthful that can be eaten as a snack or a dessert in itself (if your sweet tooth is anything like mine).

From start to finish, it takes just 8 minutes to make, so it’s perfect for a last minute addition to your dessert table. Not only is it vegan and gluten-free, but it also has some hidden health benefits, too.

Pearl powder is the secret superfood that’s been included in this recipe. This intriguing health food has been used as an anti-aging beauty booster for centuries most commonly in traditional Chinese medicine. This is because it promotes the body’s production of collagen, which is what makes skin, nails and hair healthy - we reckon this means that you can scoff a few of these treats completely guilt-free!

 

Vegan Choc Chip Cookie Dough

Ingredients
Coconut flour, 64g
Cocoa powder, 2 tbsp
Monk sugar, 2 tbsp (or, you could use granulated sugar)
Maple syrup, 2 tbsp (or, you could use either agave or honey)
Coconut oil, 1.5 tbsp, melted
Coconut milk, 3 tbsp
Vegan chocolate chips or cacao nibs, 2 tbsp
Pearl powder, 3 tsp


Method

1. Mix together the coconut flour, cocoa powder, pearl powder, and sugar in a bowl. If the mixture is too dry, add a splash more coconut milk. If the mixture is too wet, add a bit more coconut flour. Stir well until combined and you achieve the desired consistency.
2. Add the maple syrup, melted coconut oil, milk, and chocolate chips to the mixture. Stir until the mixture forms a dough-like consistency.

Next up, we’ve got our vegan alternative to your Christmas dessert table staple. This vegan Christmas pudding has all of the hallmarks of a traditional version, which is exactly what we think makes a vegan version of a dessert brilliant. It’s absolutely overflowing with rich dried fruit, and can be perfectly paired with a scoop of vegan ice cream. With this recipe under your belt, all of your guests can get involved in the day’s treats.

 

Vegan Christmas pudding

Ingredients
Dairy-free margarine, 125g, plus extra for greasing the bowl and paper
Dried figs, 375g
Rum, 75ml
Mixed sultanas and raisins, 350g
Eating apple, 1 large, peeled, cored and grated
Light brown soft sugar, 85g
Dark brown soft sugar, 85g
Breadcrumbs, 100g
Self-raising flour, 100g
Allspice, ½ tbsp


Method

1. Grease a 2-litre pudding bowl with the margarine. Line the base with a circle of baking parchment, cut to size. Grease a large sheet of baking parchment, then lay it on top of a large sheet of foil, margarine-side up. Fold a pleat in the middle of each sheet.
2. Roughly chop 125g of the figs and set aside. Put the remaining 250g of figs, the margarine and the rum into a food processor. Blitz until a smooth paste is formed. Then add this mixture to a large bowl.
3. Add the chopped figs, plus the rest of the ingredients (sultanas, raisins, grated apple, sugars, breadcrumbs, flour and allspice) into this one big bowl. Stir everything together until fully combined. Spoon the batter into your pudding basin.
4. Cover with the greased sheet that you prepared earlier and tightly tie the bowl with some string.
5. To a large saucepan, pop some scrunched-up bits of foil in the bottom. This will make sure that the pudding bowl doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan. Gently lower the bowl into the saucepan. Fill the pan with enough boiling water that the water comes halfway-up the sides of the bowl. Cover with a lid and simmer for 3 hours, topping up the water as needed. Remove the pudding from the pan and leave to cool.

These divine desserts certainly have the wow-factor - who would have believed that you could recreate these puds so well in a completely vegan option? Now, with all of the brilliant innovations that we’ve seen in the food industry over the last few years, a vegan Christmas can be equally as divine.

Have you seen our Christmas drinks recipes too? Our blog is packed with delicious festive drinks recipes, many of which can be modified to suit different dietary requirements. We know just how to fill the festive period with indulgences.

For us, a Smart Xmas means two things - delicious food and perfect gifts. So, now that we’ve covered the first of these points, it’s high time that we move on to the second matter at hand. Have a look through our website to browse our full range of smart gifts. We reckon they make the perfect thoughtful present to pop under the Xmas tree.

What’s more, treating a loved one (or yourself!) to a smart home this year is more affordable than you may think. We’ve got a little insider secret for you - our Boxing Day sale will be starting on our website soon, so keep an eye out for fantastic deals across our product range.

 

Written by Josephine Walbank