Puddings for the Autumn Months

For our autumn pudding recipes we’re making good use of seasonal food like blackberries, plums and pumpkins. We’ve recipes for simple fruit puddings as well as a traditional recipe for pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!

Baked Pears

• 4 pears
• 2 -3 tablespoons demerara sugar
• 25 g butter

Preheat the oven to 200oC, gas mark 6. Grease a shallow baking dish.

Peel and halve the pears. Remove the core with a teaspoon. Place cut-side-down in a single layer in the baking dish. Dot with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Cover with a sheet of greased greaseproof paper and bake for about 20 – 30 minutes or until the pears are tender.

Serve with double cream or ice cream and chocolate sauce if desired.

• 200 g best quality dark chocolate, broken up
• 200 ml water

Bring the water to the boil in a small saucepan. Add the chocolate, whisking well. As soon as the chocolate has melted remove the sauce from the heat. Whisk until smooth and pour over the pears.

Apple and Blackberry Crumble

• 1 lb cooking apples
• A generous handful blackberries
• 3 oz sugar or to taste
• 4 oz plain flour
• 3 oz margarine
• 2 oz caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180oC, gas mark 4.

Peel and core the apples and slice thinly. Wash the blackberries. Place half the apple slices in a deep baking dish. Sprinkle over the blackberries and sugar. Cover with the remaining apple slices.

Rub the margarine into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar. Cover the apple slices and cook for about 35-45 minutes. Serve hot with cream or ice cream or cold with hot custard.

Very simple poached plums with real custard

• 1 lb plums
• 75 g caster sugar
• 200 ml water

Wash the plums and if they’re large, halve and stone them. Pour the water into a saucepan large enough to hold the plums. Add the sugar and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. When it’s dissolved, bring to a boil and add the plums. Simmer very gently until the plums are soft but still retain their shape.

• Add a few sweet almonds to the water for extra flavour but remove before serving.

• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• ½ pint milk
• A few drops vanilla extract

Beat the eggs with the sugar and 3 tablespoons of milk. Heat the remaining milk until it’s lukewarm and then gradually add it to the egg mixture, stirring continually. Return to the heat and stir until it thickens. You may prefer to use a bowl over a saucepan of hot water to stop it getting too hot. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Pumpkin Pie

• Shortcrust pastry
• 1 pumpkin
• 4 eggs
• Small tin evaporated milk
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup golden syrup
• 1½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 220oC, gas mark 7.

Use the pastry to line a deep pie dish.

Cut the flesh of the pumpkin into chunks and cook, covered, in the oven for about 1 hour or until the pumpkin is tender. Drain and mash. Place in a large heavy-based saucepan and add the milk and evaporated milk. Heat gently, stirring to prevent sticking.

Beat the eggs until smooth and stir in the spices. Gradually add the pumpkin mix to the eggs, stirring as you pour. Put this mixture into the pie crust and cook for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 180oC, gas mark 4 and continue cooking for about 45 minutes. The pie is cooked when the outside edge is firm but the centre is still a little wobbly.

• For speed, use a ready-made pastry case and canned pureed pumpkin.

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