Gluten- and dairy-free Armagnac Christmas pudding

The label on my bottle of Armagnac boasts flavoursome notes of prune and vanilla, making it the perfect Christmas spirit for this sumptuous gluten-free pudding of… well… prunes and vanilla.

Rosy rhubarb is forced into the shops just in time to bring something a little tarty to the party.

I’m a sucker for unusual fare, but you can easily replace the coconut sugar and quinoa flakes with more standard ingredients, and feel free to tweak the spices – although if you’ve never used Chinese five-spice in a plum pudding, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. If you need a nut-free pudding, omit the flaked offenders and replace the ground almonds with desiccated coconut or more quinoa flakes.

Gluten-free suet can be tricky to track down so I use a block of white vegetable fat, frozen then grated. It’s a finger-numbing process and you’ll never get the full amount in your bowl, but don’t worry unnecessarily – it’s Christmas. If your pud doesn’t need to be dairy-free, you could grate frozen unsalted butter if you prefer.