Holiday Date Pudding Food

DATE PUDDING

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine the dates, walnuts and sugar. In another bowl, beat egg, milk and vanilla. Add to date mixture; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to the date mixture. , Spread into a greased 1-qt. baking dish; dot with butter. Bake at 325° for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve with whipped cream.

SOUTHERN STYLE CHRISTMAS BREAD PUDDING WITH BOURBON SAUCE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove crusts from bread and reserve. Cut bread slices into cubes. In a large bowl, beat eggs well. Add milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, Grand Marnier and mix well. Add cinnamon, juice, and lemon zest. Stir in cherries and raisins. Add bread cubes and stir until well coated. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring often. If mixture is soupy, you may need to add additional slices of white bread (crusts removed.) The mixture should be wet but not soupy. Pour into buttered baking dish, dusted with sugar. Prepare topping in a food processor. Add crusts, butter and brown sugar, pulsing until mixture is crumbly. Spread evenly over top of pudding. Bake in a water bath for 50 minutes covered with foil. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes or until brown on top. Serve with bourbon sauce.
• Mix eggs, butter, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and 1/2 cup bourbon. In top of a double boiler cook until temperature reads 165 on a thermometer. Beating constantly and being careful not to curdle eggs. Remove from heat and strain. In a mixer bowl, beat sauce until slightly cool, adding remaining bourbon a little at a time. Serve with bread pudding.

OLD FASHIONED DATE PUDDING - STICKY DATE PUDDING WITH CARAMEL SAUCE

Steps:

• Spray a 9 x 5 inch pan (bread pan) with nonstick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
• For the sauce, boil together water, brown sugar and butter for 3 minutes in a small saucepan; add vanilla and take off heat to slightly cool while putting together pudding.
• In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt; add milk, chopped dates and vanilla. Mix together until a thick, sticky batter forms.
• Spread pudding cake mixture into prepared bread pan; pour sauce over batter.
• Bake for approximately 1 hour. If the center still looks wet after an hour, continue to cook 5 to 10 minutes until the center is set. The cake will be sticky, and the sauce layer will move to the bottom.
• Serve warm or cold, topped with the sauce from the bottom of the pan. Dollop with whipped cream if desired.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Steps:

• The day before you want to steam the pudding: In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the suet, brown sugar, sifted flour, breadcrumbs, allspice, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Gradually mix in the currants, sultanas, raisins, candied peel, and almonds, followed by the apple and citrus zests. In a small bowl, whisk together the rum, barley wine, and stout, and then beat in the eggs. Pour this mixture over the dried fruit and nut mixture. Mix thoroughly. It should be somewhat loose; if it needs a little more liquid, add some stout. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight.
• The following day: Butter a 1-pint pudding mold and pack the pudding mixture into it. Cover with a double piece of parchment and a sheet of foil and tie securely with a string across the top to make a handle. Place the pudding mold in a covered steamer set over a saucepan of simmering water, and steam for 8 hours. Check the water level, adding boiling water as needed. When the pudding is finished, let it cool and then remove the papers and foil. Replace with fresh paper and make a new string for easier maneuvering. Set in a cool place away from light (under the bed works well).
• To reheat, set a saucepan with boiling water over medium heat and put a steamer on top. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, set the pudding in the steamer, cover, and let steam for 2 1/4 hours. Top up the water a bit if necessary.
• To serve, remove the pudding from the steamer and take off the wrapping. Slide a palette knife around the pudding, and then turn it out onto a warm plate. Garnish with a sprig of holly. To flambe the pudding, warm a ladleful of brandy over direct heat, and when it is hot, carefully light the brandy. Place the flaming ladle over the pudding, but do not pour until at the table. When you do slowly pour it over the pudding, sides and all, watch it flame! Serve with rum sauce if desired.
• This recipe was provided by professional chefs and has been scaled down from a bulk recipe provided by a restaurant. The Food Network Kitchens chefs have not tested this recipe, in the proportions indicated, and therefore, we cannot make any representation as to the results.

STICKY DATE & RAISIN PUDDING

Steps:

• Put the dates, raisins, milk and brandy or rum in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 mins until the fruit is soft and the liquid has been absorbed - don't worry if it looks a little curdled. Leave to cool. Meanwhile, generously butter a 1.2-litre pudding basin.
• To prepare your steamer, place a snugly fitting upturned bowl or saucer in the base of a large, deep saucepan, big enough to hold your pudding basin. Cut out a large circle of baking parchment and one of foil, both 5cm wider than the rim of your pudding basin. Make a sharp pleat down the centre of both, then butter one side of the parchment - this will be your lid. Set aside. Boil the kettle for the steamer.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating again until well combined. Finally, add the flour, mixed spice, orange zest, date mixture and a pinch of salt, and stir everything well with a spatula until there are no visible lumps of flour. Tip the cake mixture into your pudding basin. Cover the bowl with the parchment, butter-side down and pleat on top, then the foil. Push the sides of the lid down, then tie a piece of string securely under the lip of the basin. Use any overhanging string to create a handle to help you lift the pudding.
• Stand the pudding basin on top of the upturned bowl or saucer in the saucepan and fill the pan with enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the basin. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover the pan with a lid and leave to steam for 2½ hrs, topping up with boiling water if the level gets low. Check the pudding is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre. If the skewer has any uncooked mixture on it, return it to the pan to steam for another 15 mins, then check again. Once cooked, you can cover the pudding with clean baking parchment and foil and keep for up to a week. Re-steam the pudding for 1 hr before serving.

STICKY DATE & GINGER PUDDING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Lightly grease a deep 2-litre (about 28 x 20cm) oval baking dish. Tip the dates into a pan, pour over the milk and bring up to scalding point. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla essence and bicarbonate of soda, then leave to one side. Sift the flour and ginger into a bowl, then add the sugar, butter and eggs. Beat with an electric whisk for about 5 mins. Fold in the date mixture and stem ginger, then pour into the baking dish.
• For the sauce, sprinkle the sugar over the pudding batter, then drizzle with the syrup. Pour 250ml boiling water over (do not stir), then bake for 40-45 mins until the pudding is firm to the touch. Serve spoonfuls of the pudding with a generous helping of syrupy sauce from the bottom of the dish. Great with vanilla ice cream or pouring cream.

FESTIVE DATE & PECAN PUDDING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Pour 300ml boiling water over the chopped dates and set aside. Butter a 1.4-litre pudding basin and put a disc of baking parchment in the base. Put the butter, sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda, mixed spice and eggs into a large bowl, then beat with an electric hand whisk until really well blended. Add the cooled date mixture, then beat again to make a sloppy batter.
• Stir in the fruits, nuts and ginger, then pour into the pudding basin and place on a baking tray. Bake in the oven for 1 hr, cover the top lightly with foil, then return to the oven for 25 mins more until a skewer inserted into the pudding comes out clean.
• Meanwhile, make the brandy syrup. Put the sugar and 50ml water in a pan and stir over the heat until syrupy. Stir in the brandy and remove from the heat. When the pudding is ready, remove from the oven and push a skewer into it in several places. Pour over the brandy syrup so it soaks into the pudding, then cover until ready to serve.
• Turn out onto a plate, scatter with the pecans and top with the holly sprig, dusted with icing sugar. Serve with good-quality vanilla ice cream.

DATE PUDDING

Steps:

• In a saucepan combine 1 cup brown sugar, water, and bring to a boil, cook for 3 minutes.
• Remove from heat and add butter.
• In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 cup sugar.
• Stir in milk until smooth.
• Add dates and walnuts.
• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Pour syrup into a 8 or 9-inch baking pan; add batter and bake for 45 minutes.
• Serve warm with whipped cream.

HOLIDAY DATE PUDDING

Steps:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Soak dates in boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain.
• Combine batter ingredients and spread in a 9X13 ungreased baking dish.
• Combine Sticky Sauce ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Pour sauce over batter but do not stir.
• Place baking dish on a large cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes.
• Serve with whipped cream.