English Pudding With Cranberries Figs And Brown Sugar Hard Sauce Food

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.

FIGGY PUDDING

Steps:

• For the figgy pudding: Combine the dried figs and raisins with the brandy in a small bowl and let sit 30 minutes to plump the fruit. Strain, then reserve the brandy and fruit separately.
• Meanwhile, grease a 1.6-liter covered pudding pan generously with butter.
• Whisk the eggs together with the milk and sugar in a medium bowl.
• Whisk together the flour, breadcrumbs, baking powder, allspice, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a separate large bowl.
• Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined. Stir in the soaked fruit and orange zest. Add the batter to the prepared pan, tapping the pan gently on the counter to settle the batter, and smooth the top.
• Put a metal trivet or aluminum foil ring in the bottom of a large stockpot. Put the pudding pan on the trivet and add enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the pan. Set the pot over high heat and bring to a simmer, then cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let sit for 20 minutes.
• For the brown sugar sauce: Meanwhile, combine the cream and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half, the bubbles become the size of quarters and the sauce starts to pull away from the side of the saucepan, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Keep warm.
• Carefully remove the pudding pan from the pot using oven mitts. Remove the lid and let cool another 15 minutes. Run a small offset spatula around the sides of the pan to release the pudding, then use a skewer to poke about a dozen holes in the cake. Pour the reserved brandy over the top of the cake, then allow it to sit and soak in until the cake cools completely. Invert onto a serving platter and serve immediately with the sauce and whipped cream or store the cake at room temperature wrapped in plastic.

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.