So I got to work on Friday morning, logged onto the system and quickly went to check the results of the South African blog awards - success!!! I decided by 09h30 in the morning that dinner on Friday night would be something of a celebratory feast... but what to make?
You can see what I came up with (and what I drank!) in the post above, but I still didn't know what to make for dessert. And then I rememebred that it was Sugar High Friday, brainchild of the Domestic Goddess, hosted this month by Debbie of Words to Eat By who had decreed the theme to be caramel. Now I haven't played around with caramel since making toffee apples as a child but the idea of doing something caramelly seemed decadently appealing. I have also lately had a craving for sweet cooked apples, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to combine the two elements! As a child, Sunday lunch was a Big Event. You were always expected to be home for it (even after we had moved out of home) and there were always at least two courses - three if you were lucky! And to my mind, the best thing my mom used to serve for dessert was an apple caramel pudding - so that's exactly what I went looking for on the web yesterday - and here's what I came up with:
APPLE CARAMEL SELF-SAUCING PUDDING (from the Australian Women's Weekly site)
Ingredients (for 4-6 servings)
FOR THE PUDDING:
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
20g butter, melted
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped
FOR THE SAUCE
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups (500ml) boiling water
60g butter, chopped.
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 2 litre shallow oven-proof dish.
Combine the flour, sugar, butter, milk and chopped apple in a large bowl and mix well. Spread the mixture into the prepared dish.
For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted.
Pour the caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon over batter in dish. Bake in a moedate oven for about 40 minutes or until firm in the centre.
Serve immediately with cream or ice cream. Do not let the pudding stand before serving as the sauce will be absorbed!
Some notes and observations:
The original recipe uses chopped dates, not apples. I used Granny Smith apples and their slight tartness was perfect for my palate. The recipe makes A LOT of sauce - don't be surprised!! In fact, I was wondering about the wisdom of the apple chunks, fearing that they would all sink to the bottom of the batter - but I needn't have worried. Once I poured the syrup over the batter, some of the apple chunks actually freed themselves from the batter and floated to the surface to my horror! But in the end this was a good thing, so just don't panic... I also halved the quantities to make this just for me and Nick and it worked out just perfectly. And don't be alarmed if, after 40 minutes, there is a 1 inch thick crust of firm batter floating on an inch of caramel sauce - this is how it's meant to look, like a giant floating island.
So... how did it taste? Like HEAVEN IN A BOWL!!! Crispy edges to the batter, still slightly crunchy nuggets of apple and a ton of rich, buttery caramelly sauce for the ice cream to melt in. Like my mom's, only better. Sometimes I can't comprehend why I never used to make puddings - they are sooooo easy and the results are just great. Mmmmm. Now I want to experiment with other fruits. Apricot caramel pudding? Pecan caramel pudding?? Choc chip caramel pudding?? Just think of the possibilities...
caramel and pudding is always a winning combination in my opinion! looks great :-)
Posted by: tanvi | March 20, 2005 at 01:09 AM
Mmmmm! I just love reading your blog! You have the most imaginitive ways to cook and adapt recipes! I am just learning to color outside the recipe lines! The addition of Granny Smiths to this recipe and leaving the dates behind is super! I can already taste it! Thanks!
Posted by: chronicler | March 20, 2005 at 04:43 AM
Yum. Looks (and sounds) great. And way to go the good ol' Aussie Women's Weekly. They truly have the best easy-as recipes!
Posted by: AugustusGloop | March 21, 2005 at 05:32 AM
Hi Jeanne,
Sounds like another winner to me. Even though I'm not really an apple person, the combination sounds so delicious that I'll have to try it!
Posted by: Reid | March 21, 2005 at 09:37 AM
Tanvi - you are soooooo right. A match made in heaven! Thanks for the compliment :-)
Chronicler - aww, *blush*, thanks!! It took me a while to start looking at recipes and deciding what could and what could not be changed, but the more you cook, the easier it gets! So keep at it...
Hey AG - the Aussies WW rocks! I have their pasta cookbook and their breads, scones & muffins one and they are just fab. Nothing too fiddly but always interesting. Try this recipe - it's a winner!
Hi Reid! You really should give this recipe a try. The overall impression is not very appley - but the little tart bites spread throughout the pudding certainly cut thrugh the sweetness of the caramel and make for a very yummy dessert!
Posted by: Jeanne | March 21, 2005 at 02:37 PM
Jeanne, congratulations on your blog winning! And this recipe sounds like what we call in America, pudding cake. I remember recipes of this in lemon and chocolate from the 50s and 60s. This version is a definite to do on my list.
Posted by: Carolyn | March 21, 2005 at 06:22 PM
Jeanne congratulations on your blog award and the pudding looks delicious!
Posted by: Deb | March 21, 2005 at 09:18 PM
Jeanne - wholehearted congratulations on your award! You truly deserve it.
This recipe looks and sounds absolutely delicious - and not too difficult, either! Thanks so much for sharing it with us and for joining in on SHF!
Posted by: Jennifer | March 22, 2005 at 03:56 PM
I made this for dessert on Sunday, and it was delicious! I added a little cinnamon, maybe some clove and ginger would be good next time too...
I think this would be nice with peaches or apricots too.
Posted by: Mark | March 28, 2005 at 07:22 PM
Helloo,
what's the chances of a ecipe for self-saucing loose russians?
Love,
me.
Posted by: footlong | May 04, 2005 at 02:50 PM
I just made it then - with banana! Oh wow! It was perfect.
Thanks alot for the recipe. Jem, Australia.
Posted by: Jemmahughes | April 21, 2007 at 10:51 AM
I made this when I was in a remote area with my work and I had 3 bananas that were overripe.. so i put them in and served it to everyone... I added a lot of banana :) THEY HAVE NOT STOPPED TALKING ABOUT IT>>>
IT WAS FANTASTIC
and my husband just went away and I just put one in the oven.... This nearlly beats my apple dumpling recipe.
Thanks Heaps..
Jen
Posted by: Divafromdownunder | June 05, 2008 at 02:46 PM