By this I certainly don’t mean devoid of pleasure! it is a tradition in our household to make Christmas puddings, but for this year I have decided to make a pudding that you can make just before Christmas and is made from ingredients that are cows milk protein, gluten, and wheat free plus Low FODMAP to ensure you have a symptom free Christmas. Everyone in the household would stir the pudding and a sixpence was often hidden inside, a nice surprise for someone on Christmas day. As long as you don’t choke on it that is!
120g wheat/gluten-free self-raising flour*
1 tablespoon cocoa powder** (gluten free, dairy free – see link below)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 freshly grated nutmeg
1 cap full of vanilla essence
100g dairy free margarine
2 eggs
1 tablespoon of treacle
grated rind of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 an orange
Juice of 1/2 an orange and 1/2 lemon
90g soft brown sugar.
2 tablespoons of dried blueberries
*this recipe does not work well with flour based on chickpea and chickpea flour is a source of FODMAPs.
Method
Weigh out and sieve the dry ingredients into a small bowl, add gluten substitute and mix well into the dry ingredients.
Generously grease a pint pudding basin
Weigh out margarine, treacle, soft brown sugar, lemon + orange rind, Lemon + orange juice, vanilla essence into a mixing bowl and using a hand mixer, mix well till the mixture is pale.
Add 1/3 of the egg and a tablespoon of the dry mix, mix well, if it looks like it is curdling add a little more flour. It will likely look like it is curdling so don’t be put off, just add some more flour. This recipe needs 2 eggs to stop it from crumbling, repeat till all the egg is used up.
Fold in the dry ingredients to the batter.
Then add the fruit and again mix into the batter. Get each of your family members to give 
the pudding a stir – if you can drag them away from the tv. Add the batter to the pudding basin and cover the top with a grease proof paper lid tied with string, add a fold in the paper to allow room for the pudding to rise. Cover the whole dish with foil and steam for 1.5 hours. Serve!
If you follow a gluten-free diet then ensure your spice ingredients are gluten-free – supermarkets usually ensure these ingredients are labelled appropriately.
The pudding has dried fruit – but not too much, so that a small portion should be suitable for those with fructose malabsorption. It is very light and a good choice for Christmas day pudding.
I found this really interesting blog on recipes from history with a plum pudding recipe – don’t try this at home it contains FODMAPs 😉
http://lostcookbook.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/plum-pudding/
**For milk free cocoa powder check out the following link
http://whatallergy.com/2013-07/can-you-buy-nut-and-dairy-free-cocoa-powder
Clinical Alimentary 
I have been building up the courage to try a fructose friendly Christmas pudding using my uncle’s recipe – thanks for showing me that it can be done! Obviously minus all the extra dried fruits but knowing that it will still taste great means that this year I will try it!
Thanks for your comments – I hope you do try it. This pudding only contains a small amount of dried fruit, and fruit juice, you can omit these if it is too much, but it is less than a tablespoon of dried fruit per person (serves about 5 – small portions) and less than 30ml of juice per person. Have a good Christmas – when it arrives. 🙂