My First Daring Bakers Challange: Traditional English Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

OMG! My first Daring Bakers Challange! When I read it was going to be Traditional English Pudding I got scared. I have never done an English Pudding before and I did not feel comfortable with the idea that my first challange was going to be something I had no clue about.  

At the same time, though, this challange brought back a lot of memories from the year I spent living and studying in London. I do miss Europe very much and I do have very fond memories from that year. This challange will be forever dear to my heart. Thank you Esther!

Another big thank you to Esther because she allowed us a whole lot of flexibility. We were in fact allowed to choose between savoury and sweet pudding and between crusty and spongy ones. Of course, between a sweet tooth, I opted for a sweet pudding. She also allowed us to substitute for the suet (the main traditional ingredient for the English Pudding). Honestly, I had nothing against using suet...I'm Italian, animal fat does not scare me :) But I did not trust myself in using it fresh and I could not find a package one as other Daring Bakers. So I chose a recipe with butter but I'm still going around stores looking for a packaged suet.

Esther also provided us with several sources to skim through to find our "ideal" pudding. I came out with my own idea and then adapted the recipe from two different ones found on The Pudding Club website and the BBC Good Food website. The result was a wonderful steamed pudding!

Apple Cinnamon Almond Pudding

Ingredients

yield 2 individual pudding

60 gr butter, melted

80 gr sugar

1 large egg

1 tbsp milk

80 gr all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 apple, very thinly sliced or shredded

sliced, peeled almonds, if desired

Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the egg and milk. Sift the flour and baking powder. Cut the apple into very thin slices or shredd it and mix it with the cinnamon and, then stir into the creamed mixture and fold in the flour.

Grease and flour two single portion ramekins. Spread the bottom of the ramekins with sliced peeled almonds if desired and then spoon the mixture into the ramekins. Cover with parchment papers and steam for 1 hour. Let sit in the steamer for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a dish.

And with these cute english puddings I also wish you Happy (belated) Monday!

Sources: adapted from The Pudding Club and BBC Good Food website