Flambed Apricot Pudding Recipes

FLAMING CHRISTMAS PUDDING

Steps:

• In large bowl, combine suet, fruits, bread crumbs, spices, salt, sugar, and preserves. Mix well.
• With rotary beater, beat eggs until foamy. Stir in milk, 6 tbsp cognac, and wine.
• With rubber scraper, fold egg mixture into fruit mixture until well combined.
• Turn batter into a well-greased 2-quart steam pudding mold with a tight-fitting cover.
• Place mold on a trivet in a large kettle. Pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the side of the mold. Cover the kettle.
• Steam pudding for four hours. The water in the kettle should boil gently; add more water as needed.
• Remove pudding to wire rack and cool 5 minutes. Invert on serving plate; lift off mold.
• In a small saucepan, warm rest of cognac slightly. Ignite and pour, blazing, over the pudding. Serve with Vanilla Hard Sauce.
• To make hard sauce, beat all ingredients together until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

APRICOT PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 2-quart baking dish with a lid. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a sifter and sift into a bowl; set aside. Combine milk, butter and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and egg at medium-high speed until smooth. Add the jam and beat until blended. At medium speed, beat in the flour mixture, in fourths, alternately with the milk mixture, in thirds, beginning with the flour mixture, until batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared baking dish, cover and bake until browned and set, for 25 to 30 minutes.
• While pudding bakes, combine sauce ingredients and 1 1/82 cup hot water in a small saucepan; heat to simmering, stirring to dissolve sugar and melt butter. Keep warm.
• When pudding is done, uncover and pour sauce all over the top to evenly soak the pudding. Serve when cool enough to eat.

APRICOT STEAMED PUDDING

Steps:

• In a 1 1/2-quart glass or ceramic souffle dish, stir together the apricots, 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar. Cover tightly with microwave plastic wrap. Cook at 100 percent power for 7 minutes. Prick plastic wrap to release steam.
• Remove from oven, and uncover. Scrape mixture into a blender, and puree. Scrape down sides of blender. Add lemon juice, and blend until smooth. Put puree into a medium bowl, and let stand 15 minutes or until cool.
• Place a 2-quart souffle dish on parchment paper. Lightly trace around the base with a pencil. Cut out the paper disk just inside the pencil marking. Grease the dish and both sides of the paper using 1 tablespoon of the butter.
• Place the remaining sugar and butter in the work bowl of a food processor, and process until smooth. With processor running, add the eggs one at a time to combine. Add the apricot puree, and process until completely incorporated.
• Return apricot mixture to the bowl, and gently fold in the bread crumbs until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared souffle dish. To remove the air bubbles, firmly rap dish on counter. Cover tightly with microwave plastic wrap. Cook 12 minutes. Prick plastic to release steam.
• Remove from the oven, and uncover. Cover with a heavy plate, and let stand for 15 minutes. Unmold; remove parchment paper, let cool about 5 minutes and serve.