English Pudding With Cranberries Figs And Brown Sugar Hard Sauce Recipes

HISTORICAL RECIPE: CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Steps:

• Cream butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add in raisins, carrot, potato and egg. Stir in flour and baking soda.
• Grease 2 small glass bowls or one large bowl. Fill with pudding. Leave about an inch between the top of the pudding and the top of the bowl to give it room to rise.
• Cover the bowl with a piece of parchment, followed by a piece of tin foil, secured with string. My grandmother used a clean piece of muslin instead of the parchment.
• The pudding can be steamed in a double boiler, or you can place the pudding in a large pot, placing the pudding bowl on a small ramekin or mason jar ring to keep it off the bottom of the pot. Pour water in the bottom to no more than 1/3 of the way up the sides of the bowl.
• Steam the pudding for 2 - 3 hours, or until a toothpick comes out clean. My small puddings are usually done at 2 hours, with a large pudding taking the full three. Add additional hot water to your pot as necessary to keep your pot from boiling dry.
• Turn the pudding out onto a plate and serve hot with brown sugar sauce.
• Brown Sugar Sauce Instructions
• Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in brown sugar and continue to stir constantly until boiling. Boil for two minutes. Remove from the heat and whisk in milk and vanilla. Return to the heat and stir constantly until the mixture once again comes to the boil. Thin with more milk or cream if necessary. Serve warm.

CRANBERRY PUDDING

Steps:

• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in cranberries. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, for sauce, combine sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan. Add water and stir until smooth. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat; cook and stir 3 minutes more. Remove from the heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cool slightly; serve over warm pudding. Refrigerate leftover sauce.

NANNY'S STEAMED CRANBERRY PUDDING

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, baking soda, 1 cup of white sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in the milk, egg, and butter until well blended. Toss the cranberries in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour to coat, then fold them into the batter.
• Pour the batter into a greased round casserole dish with a lid, place the lid on, and then cover again with aluminum foil. Place the dish into a large roaster or stock pot, and fill with 3 to 4 inches of water. Place the lid on the outer pot, and cover with aluminum foil. Turn the heat to medium-high, and steam for 2 hours. Add more water if necessary after the first hour.
• For the sauce, mix together 1/2 cup of white sugar, brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir occasionally until the mixture comes to a full boil. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate until chilled, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Serve slices of the steamed pudding with the brown sugar sauce, and a dollop of whipped cream.

MARTHA STEWART'S CRANBERRY STEAMED PUDDING

Steps:

• Steam your pudding in a deep pot with a tight-fitting lid, so that the steam has room to circulate.
• Keep a kettle of hot water on hand to refill the pot if necessary.
• Do not allow the pudding to cool much longer than fifteen minutes, or you may have trouble removing it from the mold.
• Generously butter a 7 1/2-cup steam-pudding mold, and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, 1/4 cup kirsch, and cinnamon stick.
• Set over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cranberries break down and mixture thickens.
• Remove from heat, discard cinnamon stick, and cool.
• Evenly spread 1/2 cup of the cooled cranberry mixture onto the bottom of the pudding mold, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, prepare the hot-water bath: Fill a large, 11-by-5 1/4-inch pot one-third full with water.
• Set over high heat, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low, cover, and keep at a simmer until pudding is ready to cook.
• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about four minutes.
• Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla, mixing until completely blended.
• In three additions, alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and blending well after each addition.
• Add dried cranberries and the remaining cranberry mixture to the batter, and mix until well blended.
• Pour batter into pudding mold to within 1/2 an inch of the top, and cover mold tightly with its lid (if the mold doesn't have a lid, cover with a round of parchment paper and then aluminum foil, and secure with a rubber band).
• Submerge a folded dish towel or a round sack onto the bottom of the large water-bath pot.
• Place the pudding mold into the water bath, resting on the towel, so that the water comes halfway up the sides of the mold.
• Cover the water bath, and gently simmer the pudding for about 2 hours and 20 minutes, or until pudding has set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Remove pudding mold from the water bath and cool 15 minutes on a wire rack.
• Meanwhile, pour cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons kirsch and sifted confectioners’ sugar.
• Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
• Unmold pudding onto a serving platter.
• Serve with kirsch-flavored whipped cream.

ENGLISH PUDDING WITH CRANBERRIES, FIGS AND BROWN SUGAR HARD SAUCE

Steps:

• Generously butter 2 1/2-quart charlotte mold, pudding mold or thick heatproof glass bowl. Sift flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, salt, cloves and nutmeg into large mixing bowl. Add all dried fruit and toss to coat. Mix in crumbs. Whisk brown sugar, eggs, butter, maple syrup, liqueur, rum, grated tangerine peel and vanilla in medium bowl to blend. Pour over dry ingredients and stir until well combined (batter will be thick).
• Spoon batter into prepared mold. Smooth top. Cover mold tightly with double thickness of foil. Place rack in large pot. Set pudding on rack. Pour enough hot water into pot to come halfway up sides of mold. Cover pot. Bring water to simmer over medium-low heat. Steam pudding until wooden skewer inserted into center comes out clean, adding more boiling water to pot as necessary, about 5 hours.
• Transfer mold to cooling rack; uncover and cool 30 minutes. (Can be made up to 2 months ahead. Remove pudding from mold; cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate. To reheat pudding, unwrap and return to buttered mold; cover. Place mold on rack in large pot. Pour enough hot water into pot to come halfway up sides of mold. Cover pot; steam pudding over medium-low heat until heated through, about 1 hour. Transfer to cooling rack. Let stand 30 minutes.)
• Turn warm pudding out onto platter. Garnish with tangerine peel twists and fresh cranberries, if desired. Serve with Brown Sugar Hard Sauce.