Best English Pudding With Cranberries Figs And Brown Sugar Hard Sauce Recipes

SUPERB ENGLISH PLUM PUDDING

Steps:

• Blend the fruits, citron, peel, spices and suet and place in a bowl or jar. Add 1/4 cup cognac, cover tightly and refrigerate for 4 days, adding 1/4 cup cognac each day.
• Soak the bread crumbs in milk and sherry or port. Combine the well-beaten eggs and sugar. Blend with the fruit mixture. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Put the pudding in buttered bowls or tins, filling them about 2/3 full. Cover with foil and tie it firmly. Steam for 6-7 hours. Uncover and place in a 250°F. oven for 30 minutes. Add a dash of cognac to each pudding, cover with foil and keep in a cool place.
• To use, steam again for 2-3 hours and unmold. Sprinkle with sugar; add heated cognac. Ignite and bring to the table. Serve with hard sauce or cognac sauce.

MARTHA STEWART'S CRANBERRY STEAMED PUDDING

Steps:

• Steam your pudding in a deep pot with a tight-fitting lid, so that the steam has room to circulate.
• Keep a kettle of hot water on hand to refill the pot if necessary.
• Do not allow the pudding to cool much longer than fifteen minutes, or you may have trouble removing it from the mold.
• Generously butter a 7 1/2-cup steam-pudding mold, and set aside.
• In a large saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, 1/4 cup kirsch, and cinnamon stick.
• Set over medium-high heat, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium, and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until cranberries break down and mixture thickens.
• Remove from heat, discard cinnamon stick, and cool.
• Evenly spread 1/2 cup of the cooled cranberry mixture onto the bottom of the pudding mold, and set aside.
• Meanwhile, prepare the hot-water bath: Fill a large, 11-by-5 1/4-inch pot one-third full with water.
• Set over high heat, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low, cover, and keep at a simmer until pudding is ready to cook.
• In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about four minutes.
• Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla, mixing until completely blended.
• In three additions, alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and blending well after each addition.
• Add dried cranberries and the remaining cranberry mixture to the batter, and mix until well blended.
• Pour batter into pudding mold to within 1/2 an inch of the top, and cover mold tightly with its lid (if the mold doesn't have a lid, cover with a round of parchment paper and then aluminum foil, and secure with a rubber band).
• Submerge a folded dish towel or a round sack onto the bottom of the large water-bath pot.
• Place the pudding mold into the water bath, resting on the towel, so that the water comes halfway up the sides of the mold.
• Cover the water bath, and gently simmer the pudding for about 2 hours and 20 minutes, or until pudding has set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Remove pudding mold from the water bath and cool 15 minutes on a wire rack.
• Meanwhile, pour cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons kirsch and sifted confectioners’ sugar.
• Whip on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 45 seconds to 1 minute.
• Unmold pudding onto a serving platter.
• Serve with kirsch-flavored whipped cream.

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.