Figgy pudding! |
I over-the-top decorate in and around our home (3 trees), even though I have yet to spend an actual christmas in my own home (somehow we are always the ones in the family that get stuck doing the traveling -- even when we had a house with three guest rooms. Go figure.). And now, what with the whole ninja gig, I'm cooking up a christmas storm as well.
Fa la la la la la la la la!
This year, egged on by my dessert-loving husband, I thought it might fun to try to make some of the treats that are mentioned in traditional christmas carols.
Enter figgy pudding.
Despite the fact that I am known to sing "bring us some friggin' pudding" instead of the actual carol lyrics, I decided to give it a go. If it turned out like crap, I figured I could call this blog post "Friggin' pudding: a giant fiasco" and still be able to entertain you. Kinda like my goiter bread.
But I should have known it would be splendid because I chose a Dorie Greenspan recipe. Ah, Dorie. Just as I want to go on an adventurous, boozy holiday with Tony Bourdain, I want to spend a long country weekend with Dorie Greenspan in France. She seems like she'd be a great gal pal confidant.
Also, I particularly love that her recipes don't include instructions so much as a narrative, full of helpful little hints and queues about what the dish should look/smell/taste like at each step of the way. See? What a thoughtful gal pal.
Her "recipe coach" approach was perfect for figgy pudding as it is steamed. Yes, steamed. Like a lobster. Weird but cool. And now I have another use for my canning pot out of season!
Honestly, it was not at all hard and the results are really delicious -- imagine a dense, fruit-packed, boozy, not-sicky-sweet fruitcake. It made both a great dessert and a yummy breakfast.
I'm simply linking you to Dorie's recipe, as it is way too involved to reproduce and I didn't dare adapt it on my first try. But I photographed the progress, which may help you along.
We wish you a merry christmas!
Flaming the fruit |
Batter before steaming |
All wrapped up for 2 hours of steaming |
Voila! And it unmolded easily |
Now that's some friggin' pudding! |
It looks very good!! There's something very alluring about flaming fruit.
ReplyDeleteam now very hungry, thank you very much! Please send!
ReplyDeleteOooh, figgy pudding! Now I know what to do with the package of figs in my pantry. Thanks, Kitchen Ninja!
ReplyDeleteKind of reminds me of "Deacon Porter's Hat" (which is traditionally consumed on Mary Lyon's birthday. Have you ever tried it?
ReplyDeleteI also have a recipe for a caramel apple steamed pudding that is yummy if you're interested.
I'm doing very little baking/cooking this holiday for obvious reasons so am enjoying living vicariously via your blog. Thanks!
Upon looking at the recipe I noticed that this is Christmas Pudding, or Plum pudding as well! So, I am making the very same thing, but with a vastly (relatively) different recipe. I'll keep you posted on how mine comes out. Probably won't come out as nice as yours! (And three trees! Oh, Baby Jesus!)
ReplyDeleteI would love to hear/read about yours, since this was my first try. Keep me posted!
ReplyDelete