Maple Pecan Steamed Pudding

My first adventure in pudding making was a great success... and I had every excuse in the book as to why I wouldn't be able to make one, why it wouldn't turn out right and whatever... but I surprised myself here...

On the weekend I made a Maple Pecan Pudding and it was lovely! I was a bit concerned that it would not turn out right, because well, it is steamed and not baked and for the life of me I could not figure out how that would be an advantage.

And it's not really - however it is a completely different taste, texture and the process involved in making a pudding is quite interesting in itself. First of all not many people would have a pudding steamer and I certainly don't.

So, you have to improvise and that's not difficult at all. I used a glass bowl for the pudding, placed an upside down measuring cup on the bottom of the saucepan, then made a cover for the pudding using tin foil and parchment paper. It was all fastened with string and even a little handle...

To make the pudding I used 1 cup of chopped pecans, 4 tablespoons oats and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. I mixed these up and placed them into the buttered glass bowl at the bottom. Then to make the pudding I used 2 cups of spelt flour, grated orange rind, 1/4 agave syrup, 2 eggs beaten, 1/2 cup goat's milk, cloves and a pinch of salt.

I mixed all of these other ingredients together in a mixing bowl until it resembled a batter and then spooned it carefully onto the pecans. This would form the bottom part of the pudding. I covered the glass bowl with the foil and string and then carefully placed it into the saucepan (on it's perch) and turned up the heat.

This steamed for 2 hours with me checking to make sure there was enough water. I kept it up about half way around the bowl. 

To be honest I was not at all certain it would steam and cook - so was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and it was cooked. Nicely. To serve, this type of pudding is great with homemade custard and  drizzled with more maple syrup...

April

Maple Pecan Pudding... already sampled!

From Leftover Apples to Apple Crumble

You know how I don't like to see old fruit sitting in the bowl going off - it is just begging to have something done with it because I am reluctant to put it in the compost. So, my week has been one of learning to trust myself even more in the kitchen.

I had these very large sweet apples - 5 of them and wondered for a couple of days what to make. We have lots of apple sauce and apple butter so it was decided to make an apple cobbler. But I wasn't exactly sure what the end result would be, so I just started in and where I ended up was a complete surprise!

The apples were cooked with cinnamon, a little lemon juice, maple syrup with a sprinkle of corn starch and vanilla essence in at the last minute. I let them bubble away for about 10 minutes until they were just soft and the liquid had thickened somewhat.

In the meantime I had the oven preheated to about 175 degrees C and a baking dish coated with butter. I spooned with a large ladle the apple mixture into this baking dish, smoothing it out on top. 

Using a deep bowl, I wanted to make some kind of a topping for this cobbler - I ended up with 3/4 cup of spelt flour, 1/2 cup of oats, 3 tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup of maple syrup - all mixed and formed into a little ball.

I wanted to cover as much of the top of the apples as possible, so I flattened this dough out and starting at the middle of the dish, I spread out the oat mixture covering the apples until only the edge was left open.

Next, this went into the hot oven for about 20 minutes or so. When I took it out, the apples were were bubbling and golden brown on top. The smell was incredible and the apple sauce had thickened up a little more.

Apple Cobbler or something similar! 

I served it as it was, hot with a cup of dandelion coffee. It was the most delicious tasting dessert I have had in a very long time! Delightful when things turn out well.

Perhaps I should do a little more experimenting...

Have a tasty day,

April