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| Looks innocuous right? Wrong. It induces comas. |
One of the many wonderful things about spring in Canada is the fresh maple syrup that is readily available. I’m addicted to it.
My grandmother, equally prone to addiction it seems, used to serve bowls of it
for dessert accompanied by white bread and butter. This maple pudding is a
slight variation on the straight-up-bowl-of-syrup theme. It’s also known as
pouding chômeur,
(literally unemployment pudding
or poor man's pudding), which
is somewhat ironic given that buying maple syrup these days is akin to
purchasing liquid gold.
Notwithstanding the cost of the ingredients, having
received the recipe in the mail from my sister I could hardly wait to get the
pudding into the oven and then into my mouth. My husband told me it was the best
dessert I’d ever made. He ate about two pounds of it prior to falling into a
deep comatose-like sleep.
Ingredients:
· 1 and 1/3
cups of dark amber maple syrup
· 1 stick (1/2
cup) plus 3 tablespoons of unsalted, room temperature,
butter
· 1 cup of
all-purpose flour
· 2 teaspoons
of baking powder
· ½ teaspoon
salt
· A pinch of
mace (unbelievably, I had some available)
· 1 large egg
plus another egg yolk
· 1/3 cup
buttermilk (or use plain yogurt cut with water)
· 2 teaspoons
pure vanilla extract
· 2/3 cup
sugar
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter an 8
inch square glass or ceramic baking dish. In a medium saucepan, boil the maple
syrup over a medium heat until it is reduced to 1 cup. This takes about 6
minutes. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of butter then place the butter-syrup mixture
into the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, mace
and baking powder. In a second small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients:
the whole egg and additional egg yolk, the buttermilk and vanilla. In a large
bowl, mix the remaining stick of butter with the sugar until creamed. At a low
speed mix in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the liquid
ingredients until the batter is smooth. Evenly dollop heaping tablespoons of the
batter on top of the maple syrup. Bake the pudding for 35 minutes or until the
top is nicely browned and an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.
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| Let it stand for 10 minutes before serving. (If you don’t do this, you will burn your mouth as I did). |
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| Serve with unsweetened whipped cream or crème fraiche. |
Editorial note: This recipe was originally
published in the Ottawa Citizen.
