Christmas Clootie Dumpling with The Hebridean Baker

This weekend is Stir Up Sunday, a tradition which became popular during the Victorian era when families would gather together to prepare their Christmas pudding on the last Sunday before Advent. This meant that the flavours would have time to mature and create a delicious blend of festive spices before Christmas Day.

Here at Òr, we'd like to introduce you to a Scottish twist on tradition with a different type of fruit cake – the clootie dumpling, or in Gaelic we know it as a 'duff'. 

It's lighter than a Christmas pud, but still contains the rich mix of festive fruits and spices that we love to indulge in at this time of year. The name derives from the linen cloth it's steamed in, which is called a 'cloot'. You can easily make the clootie dumpling a week or so in advance of the day, or store it in the freezer and make it a couple of months before. 

Bestselling author of The Scottish Cookbook, Coinneach MacLeod – better known as The Hebridean Baker – is a huge fan of this comforting cake and claims no one can make it better than his beloved Aunt Bellag! Coinneach has kindly shared his traditional clootie dumpling recipe with us from his cookbook so you can enjoy making it with your family at home.

Ingredients 

• 225g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 175g sugar
• 100g suet
• 100g sultanas
• 75g currants
• 75g raisins
• 1 apple, grated
• 150ml buttermilk
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 heaped tablespoon black treacle
• 1 heaped tablespoon marmalade – Aunt Bellag's secret ingredient!

How to make a clootie dumpling

1. Everything goes into a single bowl. Sieve your flour and add your baking soda, mixed spice, cinnamon and salt into a bowl and combine.
2. Add your sugar, suet, dried fruit and grated apple to the bowl and stir together.
   Pour in your buttermilk, beaten egg, black treacle and marmalade. Combine together.
3. Place a piece of muslin cloth or a cotton dishtowel (the cloot) in boiling water, and once cool enough to touch, wring the cloth out.
4. Place the cloth on your work surface and sprinkle liberally with flour.
5. Place the mixture into the centre of the cloot. Gather up the edges of the cloth and with a length of string tie it up (not too tightly), leaving some room for the dumpling to expand.
6. In a large pan of boiling water (deep enough to cover the dumpling), place a saucer upside down. Place the dumpling onto the saucer, cover with a lid and simmer for 3 hours.
7. Don’t let the water evaporate; you may need to top it up. Take out from the pan and carefully remove the cloot from the dumpling, trying not to take off any of the ‘skin’. In a warm kitchen, let it rest for 30 mins before slicing or allow it to cool down if you're storing it in the freezer.
8. Serve as a warm cake with custard or fried the next morning with Stornoway black pudding and bacon. 

For more recipes from The Hebridean Baker, head to our online store to bookmark your favourites from The Scottish Cookbook.