I was so excited when the idea for my very own Gluten Free Clootie Dumpling popped into my head. I had already made a Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding using the seasonal Delicious Alchemy Rich Fruit Cake Mix and just knew that this Clootie would work too.
Whizz forward three years and sadly Delicious Alchemy no longer produce their seasonal mix – so naturally I stepped back into the kitchen to bake, test and bake again until I was happy with the end result. So below is my very own Gluten Free, Dairy Free Scottish dish.
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Jingle off to the good bit
What is a Clootie Dumpling?
I’ve tried a true Clootie Dumpling a few times now, always when we holiday in Aviemore in Scotland. It was gorgeous and I’m not ashamed to say that I scoffed it all to myself…it was a small dumpling I hasten to add! So before I made my dumpling I did a little research into the history of the Scottish traditional treat; why it’s called a ‘clootie’ and what common ingredients there are. One fabulous website I’ve found which does a far better job of going into detail about the clootie dumpling is Scotsman Food and Drink but to summarise, cloot is Scottish for cloth, the recipe is older than 300 years and while recipes do vary slightly they all work out less rich than a Christmas Pudding.
Can I make this Clootie Vegan?
Yes you can using my gluten free suet recipe [see link below] and a flax seed egg, to make a vegan egg I’ve added the ingredients and method and the results are perfect every time. If you chose to use chia seed instead this is not a problem, I personally find flax seed less flavoursome.
How to make a flax egg
to make 1 flax egg you need the following ingredients:
– 1tbsp ground flax seed
– 3tbsp water
– 1tsp psyllium husk (optional but does add elasticity to baking)
Simply add all ingredients to a glass and stir before measuring out the other recipe ingredients, by the time you come to use your ‘egg’ mixture it will have thickened to a frog-spawn consistency (thicker if you added psyllium husk)
Then just add to your baking as you would an egg. For 2 eggs double the ingredients but note that recipes that require more than two eggs may fail due to lack of support in the structure.
How do you make Gluten Free Suet?
There are gluten free suet products out there but they’re a rare thing and why scour the shelves in the supermarket when you can make your own for a fraction of the price and keep it store in the fridge.
My simple recipe can be found here in my Homemade Gluten Free Suet Recipe recipe, and soon you’ll be able to see it in my Jam Roly Poly Pudding too, so now’s a great time to follow me on social media and sign up to my newsletter so you don’t miss it when I publish the recipe.
Step-by-step Clootie instructions
The printable version of the recipe is below but I’ve added a series of images to show you step-by-step how I made my fabulous gluten free clootie dumpling;
Other Christmas pudding ideas if fruit isn’t your thing
So maybe your not a fruit fan, personally I love fruit cake, fruit pie and all the fruity puddings. But if chocolate is your thing then you’ll definitely want to try out my rich Gluten Free Salted Chocolate Tart or how about my epic Black Forest Gateau
If your looking for an after dinner treats that’s more for the adults and less likely to fill you up, then my Bailey’s recipes are certainly worth a go I have three flavours; Original, Chocolate Orange and Pumpkin Spice you can see all my Homemade Dairy Free Baileys Liqueur Recipe.
Gluten Free Christmas Gift Guide
Every Year I update this post on Glutarama’s website to give you the latest gluten free gifts perfect for a loved one or to gift yourself. The guide is broken into advent calendars, gifts for the Christmas Day, hampers for gifts or to cater for a gluten free Christmas and finally I try to find something a bit special to treat yourself in the new year.
Gluten Free Clootie Dumpling Recipe
If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.
Gluten Free Clootie Dumpling
Ingredients
- 300 g dried mixed fruit
- 200 g gluten free plain flour
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 100 g gluten free vegetable suet
- 100 g gluten free bread crumbs
- 1 egg(s)
- 100 ml water
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
Instructions
- Throw all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and combine.
- Take an old clean tea towel, muslin or piece of cloth and dust with flour.
- Place the clootie dough into the centre of the cloth and gather the corners.
- Tie the corners in place, allowing a little room for expansion. I use a cable tie to secure mine if we don't have any string in the house!
- Place the clootie parcel onto of an upturned plate in a large saucepan, this is to stop the dumpling from sticking to the hot bottom of the pan.
- Using a recently boiled kettle pour enough liquid to just cover the dumpling. My largest saucepan isn't quite deep enough, so I never quite manage to cover the dumpling completely. Adding a lid will prevent the top from drying if this happens to you.
- Boil the water for 3 hours, keep an eye on the pan as you will need to top up the water at least once.
- After 3 hours remove the dumpling taking care not to scald yourself.
- Remove the cloot (cloth) and place the soggy dumpling on a baking tray.
- Pop the dumpling in an oven set at 190C/Gas 5 for 15 mins to harden off the skin, it will turn a more dark familiar colour now not unlike a Christmas pudding or cake.
- Serve immediately with cream or custard.
Notes
Nutrition
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What gluten free flour do you use in your recipes? Do you use a pre-made flour or your own? I couldn’t find this info on your website.
Hello Susan, I use various flours all of which have varying nutritional value. I mention Free From Fairy Flour a lot in my recipes and have a link on my homepage to Vicki Montague’s website. However if you don’t fancy that the free from flours from your local store are fine (albit lacking in fibre) if you are in the UK you can use Doves Freee From Flour or Sainsbury’s or Tesco own brands. Hope this helps. Rebecca x
I have to say I’ve never made (or eaten) one of these but they look great. I can’t quite work out how they differ from Christmas pudding?
They’re just far less rich in my experience … and of course they are boiled not steamed so true ‘dumpling’ style.
This looks so good Rebecca. I’ve never tried on but being a huge fan of Christmas Pudding I’m more than sure I would love it. Thankyou so much for joining in with #BakingCrumbs.
Angela xx
oh wow this is an interesting pudding.i have heard of clootie dumpling but I have never tried one. However, looking at what goes in to it,Iam sure I would love it lithesome custard.
thank you for linking to #Bakeoftheweek x
I can thoroughly recommend it Jenny xx
I wish I liked Christmas pudding type things! They always look so delicious but my taste buds are not yet advanced enough to enjoy! Looks great though!
Erin
#brillblogposts
Haha, one day m’dear…one day :-)
I have fond memories of travelling to Scotland when I was working for Womans Realm Magazine many years ago and cloutie dumpling being made for the shoot by Alma Barrie descendant of JM Barrie for a feature on Scotish food. It was delicious. Seeing this makes me want to make it again. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
Your welcome Jacqui its food that conjurers memories that are the best in my opinion xx
Well I can safely say I have never made one of these…but it looks flipping amazing!! Well done you!
Thank you sweetie, it was a really victory, I may have done a wee dance for joy!
I’ve never heard of this until I saw it being made on the GBBO a few years ago. It does sound delicious, I would love to try it. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-up Editor. :)
Oh Julie, please make sure you do, it’s not quite as rich as Christmas pudding which is perfect for me (means I can have a bigger portion haha) I first had a proper Clootie in Aviemore 5 years ago…I’m smitten now x
Finally got around to making this today (2nd Jan) as hubby has been poorly and I didn’t want to make it while he couldn’t eat it with me, it’s currently still cooking, but smells divine! I will post a pic on your FB page so you can see how mine came out
It looks amazing, thankyou for sharing Cindy, glad you both enjoyed it x