Want to break away from the brandy sauce and try something a little different to accompany your Christmas pud? Try out our easy recipes for white chocolate and orange sauce, eggnog sauce, spiced rum punch sauce or candied pecans....the only difficult bit is choosing which one to make!

Click here to see our Christmas pudding video

WHITE CHOCOLATE AND ORANGE SAUCE

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 large egg yolks

2 tsp cornflour

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 x 300ml tub double cream

100g chopped white chocolate plus extra, grated, to finish

1 tsp Valencian orange extract

zest of 2 clementines

a few fresh cranberries

Method:

1 In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar to combine.

2 Gently heat the cream in a pan, then pour on to the egg yolk mixture, stirring continuously.

3 Return the sauce to the pan and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens to a coating consistency.

4 Stir the chopped white chocolate and the orange extract into the sauce.

5 Spoon some of the sauce over the pudding and scatter over the clementine zest and some grated white chocolate. Finish with a few cranberries. Serve the rest of the sauce in a jug.

EGGNOG SAUCE

Serves 6

Ingredients:

3 large egg yolks

3 tsp cornflour

2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

1 x 300ml pot double cream

2 tbsp brandy

1 cinnamon stick

a few drops of vanilla extract

candied pecans (see below), chopped

gold lustre powder

Method:

1 In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, cornflour and sugar to combine.

2 Gently heat the cream in a pan with the brandy, cinnamon stick and vanilla extract, then pour on to the egg yolk mixture, stirring continuously.

3 Return the sauce to the pan and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens to a coating consistency. Remove the cinnamon stick.

4 Spoon some of the sauce over the pudding, finish with a sprinkling of chopped candied pecans and a dusting of gold lustre powder. Serve the rest of the sauce in a jug.

CANDIED PECANS

Ingredients:

100g caster sugar

1 tbsp clear honey

100g pecan halves, toasted

Method:

1 Heat the sugar and honey in a pan over a medium heat until the sugar has melted and taken on a light caramel colour.

2 Tip in the pecans and stir gently. Take off the heat and tip on to a sheet of baking parchment; leave to cool.

SPICED RUM PUNCH SAUCE

Serves 6

Ingredients:

juice of 2 oranges

juice of 1 lime

150g light muscovado sugar

3 tbsp dark rum

1 star anise

2 tbsp crème fraîche

2 tsp cornflour

lime and clementine slices

Method:

1 cinnamon stick

1 Heat the fruit juices, sugar and rum in a pan with the star anise until the sugar has dissolved.

2 Whisk in the crème fraîche and bubble until reduced by half. Mix a little of the hot sauce with the cornflour in a cup, then return to the pan and stir over the heat until thickened.

3 Retrieve the star anise from the sauce, wash and dry it.

4 Spoon some of the sauce over the pudding, finish with the lime and clementine slices, the star anise and the cinnamon stick. Serve the rest of the sauce in a jug.