Sainsbury's Revives Stir Up Sunday With Simple Festive Recipes

Sainsbury's has teamed up with award winning baker and food writer, Dan Lepard, to release a set of simple, festive recipes in order to revive the great British family baking tradition of Stir Up Sunday.

Stir Up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent, falls on the 24th November this year and is the traditional day on which to make your Christmas pudding, when families across the country would get together to stir the mixture and make a wish. With the recent surge in interest across the UK in home baking, Sainsbury's hopes to help people rediscover this great British tradition and try their hand at traditional Christmas cakes and puddings this Stir Up Sunday.

Home made Christmas puddings and cakes are often easier than people think - usually a straightforward process of stirring ingredients together, with little folding, creaming or beating required. As well as a full range of ingredients to help inspire customers to have a go at making their own, Sainsbury's has pulled together a collection of classic and new Stir Up recipes with the help of celebrity baker, Dan Lepard.

Family favourite pudding and cake recipes are joined by Dan's own new and exclusive take on a traditional Italian Panforte which includes the addition of Ginger and Apricot. Also included is a recipe for a luscious Golden Mincemeat which makes a perfect alternative for those who are not keen on traditional dark dried fruits like raisins or currants. There's even an exclusive recipe by Dan for a Ginger and Orange Christmas Pudding that is gluten, dairy and egg free, for the one in four families that have to consider a family member or guest with a food allergy or intolerance. To help further, Sainsbury's has come up with a quintessentially traditional pud recipe.

Dan Lepard commented: "Stir Up Sunday should be about simple and fun, family baking that marks the start of the Christmas festivities and gives everyone the chance to make that all important Christmas wish. Join Sainsbury's in revitalising this tradition and bake with your family this Stir Up Sunday, knowing that your Christmas Day will be even more memorable with the addition of some special home baking made with love by the whole family."

See link to Sainsbury's festive recipes: http://www.Sainsburys.co.uk/ChristmasFood

ENDS

For more information please contact Claire Wood on 020 7260 2700 or email sainsburys@bluerubicon.com


Top Ten Christmas Pudding Baking Tips from Dan Lepard, in partnership with Sainsbury's


1. If you have the time, soak your fruits in liquor overnight to absorb the flavour - whisky, rum and cold tea work best.

2. Don't feel restricted to the traditional Christmas Pudding fruits, if you fancy experimenting with different flavours swap out for ones you prefer but keep the same overall weight of fruit to other ingredients.

3. If you're dealing with allergies and intolerances, there are various options. Use gluten-free flour, and gluten-free bread for breadcrumbs. Suet can be replaced with melted butter, or a little walnut oil. For egg-free or vegan, use a little more flour, increase the spices, and vary the consistency with a little orange juice.

4. If you're making a pudding for a diabetic, increase flavours that taste sweet, like vanilla, orange and ginger. More of these mean less sugar is needed.

5. If you want to avoid alcohol completely, use a light sugar syrup flavoured with orange zest.

6. To ensure the pudding is extra moist, remember it will continue cooking for 5-10 minutes after being removed from the steamer, so allow for this.

7. Once the pudding has boiled, leave the string tied, keeping the covering intact - don't peek at all, and store in a cool and dark cupboard once cool. This will ensure the pudding stays mould and bacteria-free until Christmas.

8. Consider smaller individual puddings as an alternative to one big pudding. Individual dariole moulds, covered just like a big pudding and baked in a bain-marie in a low oven for an hour, work very well.

9. If you're not a fan of traditional recipes but would still like to bake something Christmassy this year, dress a cupcake stand up as a mini Christmas tree and adorn it with flavoured cupcakes - chestnut, chocolate or cranberry. Or why not try my quick alternative, an exclusive take on a traditional Italian Panforte which includes the addition of Ginger and Apricot.

10. Visit www.Sainsburys.co.uk/ChristmasFood for a mix of inspirational new festive recipes as well as traditional and non traditional festive baking tips.