The Royal Family Has Deigned to Allow Us Commoners to Enjoy Their Christmas Pudding

Yesterday brought huge news in the world of Queen Elizabeth II-approved spirits. The British Royal family released its second ever gin–Sandringham Gin, named after the Queen’s country home–a tipple following in the footsteps of Buckingham Palace Gin, released earlier this year. Unfortunately for American anglophiles, neither gin is available stateside, but thankfully, the Royal Family had one other trick up their sleeves this week: a recipe for a Royal Christmas pudding that you can make at home wherever you live. And, yes, it also contains booze.

On Sunday, the official Twitter account for The Royal Family (you follow, right?) offered up their chefs’ own recipe for a traditional Christmas pudding, featuring both a video on how to prepare it and a list of ingredients. For a bit of British-to-American translation, “pudding” can be used as a general term to mean “dessert,” but a proper Christmas pudding is actually a specific type of dish. It’s also known as plum pudding, despite not containing any actual plums, because the primary ingredient is dried fruit like raisins. And the Royal’s version also contains three types of alcohol–beer, dark rum, and brandy–in case you need any additional motivation to try it yourself.

Another bonus, this plum pudding can be prepared way in advance of Christmas. In fact, as the Royal Family explains, they posted this recipe on Sunday because it was “Stirup Sunday,” which they described as “traditionally the day when home cooks ‘stir up’ their Christmas pudding mixture.” So, yes, you can make this Christmas pudding now and leave it in a cool, dry, and dark place all the way until December 25.

MAKE: Orange-Figgy Steamed Pudding

It’s a great way to spread out your prep time whether you’re cooking a massive royal banquet or just making your own pandemic-reduced holiday dinner easier to prepare. Then you can spend more time on Christmas Day doing what the Queen does, which is whatever the Queen damn well pleases.