Stansted care home stirs up a festive pud

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Nov 26, 2015

Residents at Mountfitchet House care home in Stansted Mountfitchet donned their aprons and had their mixing bowls at the ready for a festive ‘stir-up’ on the traditional day for making Christmas puddings, Stir-up Sunday.

The care home on the corner of Coltsfield used a Christmas pudding recipe created especially for the home by Great British Bake Off finalist Brendan Lynch.

Led by head chef, Michael Howard, residents took it in turns to stir in the ingredients – including mixed peel, festive spices and glace cherries – and they then made a secret wish.

Stir-up Sunday, which takes place on the last Sunday before Advent, is traditionally the day when families and friends gather together to ‘stir-up’ their Christmas pudding and make a wish, leaving plenty of time for the pudding to mature before Christmas Day.

Allison Squires, home manager at Mountfitchet House, said: “We all had a wonderful time adding the ingredients to the mixing bowl and seeing if we could recognise the different spices. Baking has many therapeutic benefits, and mixing certain ingredients associated with Christmas can trigger memories and happy feelings from Stir-up Sunday’s of the past.

“For many residents this is a lifelong tradition they remember doing as a child and we were keen to continue this important milestone in the lead up to Christmas.  It’s not too late to make your own Christmas pudding and Brendan Lynch’s recipe can be downloaded at www.careuk.com/stirupsunday.”

Head chef, Michael Howard, concluded: “We all really enjoyed using Brendan’s special recipe to make our Christmas pudding and we can’t wait to taste it on Christmas Day.”

For more information on Mountfitchet House, please call customer relations manager, Sharon Butler, on 01279 882417 or email Sharon.Butler@careuk.com