I am not sure when my desire for mince pies and Christmas cakes and puddings started.
It may have been sometime when I was around 14 or 15. The desire to find all these yummy seasonal delights has been with me ever since.
Early 2017 proved to be a bonanza year. It was while visiting Sydney that I came upon a small specialist supermarket that had overstocked. There they were drastically reduced. There were rows of the smaller sized puddings by my current favourite pudding maker – Pudding Lane out of Newcastle.
We spread the eating of them out over several months – as well as made gifts to friends. Also note that the Pudding Lane website is out of date.
In the last few years someone had set up a stall at local markets – and it was there that I first discovered what must be close to being the best Christmas puddings I have ever had – well maybe their taste simply wiped out the memory of those before.
I set out annually to identify a pudding to enjoy over Christmas and to taste the annual offering of mince pies. It seems that the makers come and go regularly and/or the quality can alter from year to year. Discovering Pudding Lane was a godsend.
This year after a search or two in vain, I had to contact the distributors and they let me know some of the outlets in Canberra that were carrying their stock. It took me about twenty minutes and there they were in my shopping bag on their way home.
For your information the distributors said I could find them at (until sold out of course) at the supermarkets at Ainslie, Garran, Red Hill, Griffith, Chifley, Spence, and Cook among others.
While most people probably serve pudding with ice-cream or custard – my preference is for a generous serve of some yogurt – preferably a Greek yogurt with Coconut bits.
As for Christmas cakes – there used to be a maker who sold through a shop in Mittagong. Sadly she stopped making them last year. Luckily I have a friend who makes absolutely yummy Christmas cakes – so I no longer search for these. I hope she has not forgotten me this year.
As for mince pies – now there’s a problem. Again, the best ones used to be from that maker in Mittagong. Alas – no more.
I have yet to find a good local maker of these. I love a generous dose of mince with minimal pasty. Too many have far too much and too thick pasty. And again, when I find good ones, I serve them up with the same yogurt as above.
Someone commented that Coissant D’or in Civic was recommended. An exploratory visit to Civic will have to be undertaken soon.
The search continues…