The recipes

Winter Pudding Series

A roundup of your favourite winter warmers to cosy up to.

  1. Malva Pudding with Crème Anglaise
  2. Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding
  3. Citrus Self-saucing Pudding
  4. Chai Spiced Bread and Butter Pudding
  5. Basmati Rice Pudding with Apples fried in Sage and Bay Leaves

adventureswithsugar.com/winter-pudding-series/

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The recipe

Malva Pudding with Crème Anglaise

adventureswithsugar.com/malva-pudding/

Method

Method: malva pudding

  1. Preheat the oven and prepare the dish: Preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius. Grease a 20cm square baking dish with some cooking spray and set aside. You want a fairly high dish so that the syrup has enough volume to be poured into. I have tested this in a 5 cup bundt tin as well and it works wonderfully, with it being fully soaked through.
  2. Beat the sugar and eggs: Beat the sugar, vanilla and eggs until pale and voluminous – approximately 5 minutes.
  3. Add the jam and butter: Then add in the apricot jam and melted butter, beat to incorporate.
  4. Prepare the milk: Add the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to the milk and stir. The mixture will tend to become frothy.
  5. Combine: Add the flour and milk mixture to the egg and sugar mixture and mix to combine.
  6. Bake: Bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the pudding comes out clean. (The pudding does darken a fair bit due to the apricot jam’s high sugar content. If you do feel it is getting past a very deep brown, it is best to cover it with some aluminium foil).

Method: sauce

  1. Make the sauce: When the malva pudding is at the halfway mark, place all the ingredients in a medium size saucepan and heat on medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
  2. Pour over the sauce: When the pudding comes out of the oven, prick the pudding with a fork and pour over the sauce immediately. It is best to use the back of a spoon to break the pressure from the sauce damaging the soft sponge of the pudding.
  3. If using a bundt tin: If you are using a bundt tin, wait five minutes until you can loosen the pudding slightly. Then pour in half the sauce and let it seep in before flipping over, this could take about 2 minutes to soak through. Ladle the remaining syrup over the top of the bundt tin.
  4. Serve: Serve the pudding whilst warm, with custard and/or ice cream.

Method: crème anglaise

  1. Combine the milk and cream: Add the milk and cream to a large saucepan.
  2. Add the vanilla and heat: Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean and add it to the milk mixture. Heat it until it comes to a rolling simmer, but not until it is boiling.
  3. Whisk the remaining ingredients: Whilst the milk is heating up, place the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and whisk to combine.
  4. Temper the eggs: Then, a quarter cup at a time, add the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper the eggs and increase their temperature, without scrambling it.
  5. Cook the custard: Add this mixture back to your saucepan and cook on a low heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon, and you can run a finger through it, with the trail still being visible.
  6. Strain and serve: Strain the custard into a bowl. This can be served hot or cold, but usually a cold custard with a hot malva is the perfect balance.

The recipe

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding

Serves 10 to 12

adventureswithsugar.com/chocolate-pudding/

Method

Method: pudding

  1. Preheat the oven: Preheat your oven to 160˚ Celsius. Grease a baking dish, measuring 30cm x 20cm x 6cm with some butter. Make sure it is not too large, or the sauce will dry up as it bakes in the oven.
  2. Combine the wet ingredients: Place the coffee granules into the milk and microwave until the milk is warm and you are able to dissolve the granules. Do not worry if it does not dissolve completely. Then add in the melted butter, vanilla essence and eggs and mix to combine.
  3. Combine the dry ingredients: Add the flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds, salt, cinnamon and both sugars to a bowl and whisk to combine.
  4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients: Add the milk and egg mixture, gradually to the flour mixture and whisk together to form a thick batter.
  5. Add the chocolate and place in the dish: Stir in the roughly chopped chocolate and place into the greased dish, levelling out the top.

Method: chocolate sauce

  1. Combine the sugar and cocoa: Stir the sugars and cocoa together and sprinkle this mixture over the pudding batter.
  2. Add the boiling water to the pudding: Pour the boiling water slowly onto a large serving spoon and let it fall into the pudding. Pouring this over the back of a large spoon allows it to soften the fall of the water and does not make large pools of water in the bake.
  3. Bake: Bake for 45 – 50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the sponge part comes out clean. The top of the pudding should look set, but it will still be loose and seem like it is floating a bit. This is the sauce part of the pudding and is completely normal.
  4. Serving suggestion: Let the pudding stand for 10 minutes for the sauce to settle a bit, before serving. Spoon generous portions into a bowl, and serve it with whipped cream, double thick cream/yogurt or my suggestion which is vanilla bean ice cream.

The recipe

Citrus Self-saucing Pudding

adventureswithsugar.com/grapefruit-self-saucing-pudding/

Method

Method: pudding

  1. Preheat the oven and prepare the dish: Preheat the oven to 180˚ Celsius. Grease a medium-sized ovenproof dish. A 20cm round dish is best, or even a 20cm square tin.
  2. Rub the zest into the sugar: Rub the orange zest with the sugar to release the aromas and oils.
  3. Add the butter, egg and vanilla: Add in the melted butter, followed by the egg and vanilla essence and continue to whisk.
  4. Add the lemon juice and milk: Add in the lemon juice and milk and stir to combine.
  5. Add the dry ingredients: Sift in the cake flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt together and add to the wet ingredients to form a batter.
  6. Fill the dish: Pour into the baking dish and set aside, whilst making the sauce.

Method: sauce

  1. Sprinkle with sugar: Sprinkle the sugar over the batter.
  2. Make the sauce: Mix the lemon juice, orange juice, cornflour and boiling water together.
  3. Pour over the sauce: Pour the sauce over the batter. Use the back of a large spoon to ensure that the sauce does not hit the batter with force and create pockets in the batter.
  4. Bake: Bake for around 30 – 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake part comes out clean. The top would have slightly browned.
  5. Rest and serve: Allow to sit for five minutes, then dust with icing sugar and serve (with cream or ice cream).

The recipe

Chai Spiced Bread and Butter Pudding

adventureswithsugar.com/chai-spiced-bread-and-butter-pudding/

Method

Method: chai-spiced milk

  1. Infuse the milk with the spices: Place 350ml of the milk into a medium-sized heatproof saucepan. Place the rest of the ingredients into the milk. Heat and bring to a boil, and keep at a gentle rolling boil for about 5 minutes, then set the milk aside to infuse for about an hour.
  2. Measure out the milk: Strain all of the spices out of the milk and measure it out. It usually reduces a bit, so for the recipe top it up until you have 300ml of chai to add to the custard 🙂 Then use as instructed below if you are making the chai version of the custard.

Method: chai spices to add to the custard

  1. Mix the spices: Combine all the spices and use in the recipe as directed below, if you are making the chai version of the custard.

Method: bread and butter pudding

  1. Preheat the oven and toast the croissants: Preheat the oven to 120˚ Celsius. The croissants absorb the liquid much better, and avoid producing a stodgy pudding if they are dried in the oven first. To begin, slice the croissant in half and then cube them into 2cm cubes. Place the cubed croissants on a tray and place in the oven for around 20 minutes. They will be toasted, dry and a golden brown when ready. Remove from the oven and set aside.
  2. Make the custard: To note: if you prefer your pudding on the sweeter side, then use 200g of sugar, but you can reduce this. The spices do temper the sweetness quite a bit, so I prefer to use the full 200g, but I know some people prefer the pudding less sweet. Place the cream and milk in a saucepan and heat until steaming, but not boiling. Place the eggs, egg yolk, brown sugar, salt, vanilla and melted butter in a bowl and mix to combine. Then pour over the warmed milk/cream and combine. If using the chai spices, add them in too.
  3. Begin layering the pudding: Remove about two handfuls of croissants and set aside. Then of the remaining croissants, add about a third of the croissants to a 20cm by 30cm baking dish. Then add half of the 150g of cherries (so 75g) and half of the 80g of pistachios (so 40g). Repeat with another third of croissants and similar cherries and pistachios and finally more croissants.
  4. Add the custard to the croissants: Pour over all the custard and let it absorb into the croissants for a minute or two. Then press the bread down a bit to ensure it is fully submerged. Once baked, this becomes incredibly soft and delicious. I do then like to take the remaining handfuls of croissants we set aside and top it off on the pudding, without it absorbing the custard. This provides a wonderful contrast between the crunchy bread on the top, and the soft, soaked pudding at the bottom.
  5. Let the pudding rest: For the custard to absorb into the bread, cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
  6. Preheat the oven and "Garnish" the pudding: Preheat the oven to 160˚ Celsius. Remove the pudding from the fridge and remove the cling wrap. Add on the remaining 50g of cherries you set aside, but do not add the pistachios as they burn. Then pour on the remaining 45g of melted butter and sprinkling of demerara sugar which we reserved for the garnish.
  7. Bake the pudding: Bake the pudding for around 50 – 60 minutes. After about 15 – 20 minutes, the croissants may have turned a deep golden brown. To prevent it from further browning, cover the pudding with foil and continue to bake for the remaining time. Even though after 20 minutes the pudding will look baked, the custard underneath would not have set and you will end up with a runny mess (trust me, I tried this 😉).
  8. Finish off the pudding and enjoy: Once the pudding comes out of the oven, let it sit for 20 minutes before scattering on the remaining pistachios, giving it a bit of a dusting with the icing sugar and serving with custard and/or ice cream.

The recipe

Basmati Rice Pudding with Apples fried in Sage and Bay Leaves

adventureswithsugar.com/basmati-rice-pudding-with-apples-fried-in-sage-and-bay-leaves/

Method

Method: basmati kheer

  1. Soak and dry the rice: Soak the basmati rice for two hours, fully submerging it in water. Drain well, place on a baking tray with a paper towel and leave to dry overnight. Alternatively, dry at around 100˚ Celsius for an hour in the oven.
  2. Grind the rice: The next day coarsely grind the rice, making sure not to turn it into a powder.
  3. Infuse the milk: Roughly crush the cardamom pods, split the vanilla bean in two and scrape out the seeds. Add this, the bay leaves and the cinnamon to the milk and bring everything to a boil.
  4. Simmer the rice: Once the milk has come to a boil, turn the heat down to let the milk simmer and add in the rice. Cook for 30 – 40 minutes. Keep an eye on the pot to make sure it does not boil over. The rice will begin to break down.
  5. Thicken the pudding: Once the rice has broken down, bring up to a boil stirring constantly to prevent the rice from catching at the bottom of the pan. Cook for 15 – 20 minutes, until a thick pudding is formed.
  6. Add the sugar: Remove the cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla bean, add in the sugar and cook for a further 10 minutes.
  7. Stir in the cream: Take off the heat and stir in the cream.
  8. Set in the fridge: Place into six ramekins to set, and place in the fridge for at least four hours.
  9. Brûlée the tops: When ready to serve, sprinkle on the sugar and use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar to get a nice crack.
  10. Serve: Serve with the fried apples, ice cream and crushed pistachios.

Method: fried apples in sage and bay leaves

  1. Slice the apples: Peel and core the apples and cut them into slices. You can do them as thin or as thick as you like.
  2. Season the apples: Toss the apples in lemon juice with a pinch of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  3. Fry the herbs: Add the butter to a medium pan and melt before adding in the sage and bay leaves. Fry for a minute.
  4. Cook the apples: Add in the apples to the pan along with the brown sugar and cook on medium heat for 10 – 15 minutes, until the apples have softened and the sugar has melted and caramelised. I like to keep some bite in the apples for texture, but you can cook them to your preference.
  5. Taste and adjust: Taste the apples, depending on their natural flavour, you may want to add a bit more sugar or a squeeze of lemon juice to balance out the flavours. The kheer is naturally sweet and creamy so you want a bit of tartness to balance the overall dessert.