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.
What is a Clootie Dumpling anyway?
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.
Gluten Free Suet; a simple recipe
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 Dumplings 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.
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 clootie;
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A delicious traditional Scottish pudding that's boiled not baked or steamed. This Clootie has been made gluten free and dairy free using my own suet recipe
- 300 g mixed dried fruit
- 200 g plain gluten free flour
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 100 g gluten free vegetable suet
- 100 g gluten free breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 100 ml water
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 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.
This keeps really well and we were still eating it 4 days later ... delicious!
Other Christmas pudding idea 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 Bailey’s recipes here.
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
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
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 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
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 :-)
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
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
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.
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