How to Make Plum Pudding Hard Sauce

Christmas pudding, a traditional British holiday treat, is typically served crowned with hard sauce. Plum pudding with rum or brandy hard sauce is rich, sweet and pungent and is generally served after Christmas dinner with coffee or tea just before the sherry is brought out. Although most of us don't have the staff to serve the sherry, we can celebrate the tradition with the plum pudding and this simple-to-make hard sauce. This recipe makes enough for a 1-2 pound pudding.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 to 2 cups confectioners sugar
• vanilla, rum or brandy

1. Beat the unsalted butter until it looks like whipped cream, then add a cup of the confectioner's sugar, beating at low speed until smooth.Add confectioner's sugar, a few tablespoonfuls at a time, until the sauce is the consistency of peanut butter. Beat well until absolutely smooth.
2. Add a teaspoon of vanilla or rum flavor or a tablespoon or two of rum or brandy. Since the alcohol is going to evaporate, you need more liquor to achieve the same flavor as the concentrates. Beat in well. This should thin your sauce a bit. The finished product should have the consistency of whipped cream cheese. If the hard sauce is too stiff, correct it by adding a bit of light cream (half and half). You should be able to spoon it up by the tablespoonful with no drips.
3. Serve the hard sauce by placing a dollop on top of your plum pudding while it is still warm or after flaming. It will slowly melt enough to drizzle down the sides. As it melts, more of the sharp aroma of the liquor is released to complete the rich aroma of the fruit.

Tips & Warnings

• Serve your pudding in slivers, not slices. It is very rich. For a lighter sauce, try a custard sauce.
• Hard sauce will keep for about a week in the fridge, so you can make it ahead for your holiday meal. Be sure to stir it well before using.
• If you're making gingerbread houses for the holidays, use the leftover confectioner's sugar to make hard sauce to package in decorative half cup containers to tuck into gifts of puddings or fruitcake. Be sure to label it as many Americans may have heard the name but don't know what it refers to.
• If you send plum puddings for the holidays, include recipes for hard sauce and custard sauce with heating directions.
• Although rum or brandy are the traditional flavors for a hard sauce, it can be flavored with any flavoring (lime, lemon, orange peel) or liquor (or liqueur), made with less sugar and used as a glaze on fancy cakes.
• Be sure to put your pudding on a heat-proof serving plate and find a place with "headroom" before flaming.
• Plum pudding, made primarily with raisins and dried fruit, covered with hard sauce is a calorie and carb-heavy food.