EVERYONE'S FAVORITE LEMON PUDDING

MJ and Victoria here-- with an treat from the past for 
Retro Mother's Day Week

 

MJ's Mum and Victoria's Gram was not only a great cook but a very glamorous one. We're still searching for the lost photo of her in the tiny kitchen in her black sheath dress with the pearls. MJ's friends used to come by just to gawk. Alas our photos are still playing hide and seek after the big move. Some day! In the meantime, we think Mum/Gram was really rocking this feathered hat.

We both remember her fondly for fun, parties and great food. Our house was full of books and laughter. And she was famous for her hats.  Here's a bit of a crumbled newspaper article from a Mother's Day event at our church. You have to love small communities: everything makes the paper. You will see who has the best hat, although MJ loved her little cloche, it wasn't in the running!

 Part of the enjoyment of this retro week was scoping out old photos and looking back.  As you can see, Victoria was close to Gram.

Sharing secrets at Christmas back in the day!

On vacation - no hats

This little recipe for lemon pudding cake is one that the Maffini kids loved when they were growing up. And even those two well-known fusspots, MJ and her brother, JD,  liked it a generation earlier. Poor mum. Life couldn't have been easy with those two.

 

So,  MJ's mum made this dessert fairly often back in the dim mists of time. It didn't even seem to have a name, except for lemon pudding cake. But it's a recipe that comes up in conversation quite often  A year or so ago a cousin was reminiscing about the lemon pudding cake that her mom used to make. She could never manage to find the recipe.


MJ knew she had it, but couldn’t track it down either.  Was this going to be one of those delicious secrets that are lost forever? There are lots of recipes that a kind of like this, but she  wanted this one.  Once again, Victoria to the rescue! It turned up in her little book of Treasured Recipes under Favorite Lemon Pudding.

By the way, one of the reasons we love lemon pudding so much, is that it uses the egg separator MJ got in 1971 at a Tupperware party. How retro is that?

Since fate was kind to us, we'll share it with you.  

It makes a soft and foamy pudding with luscious lemon sauce.  If there is any sauce leftover, it is delicious on vanilla ice cream or yogurt. 

Another good thing about this recipe is that we each always have eggs, lemon, milk and sugar in our houses.  No special planning needed.

So, TA DA!  from our kitchen to yours, we give you:

Everyone’s Favorite Retro Lemon Dessert 

It's all about the eggs and the lemon.

Preheat oven to 350. 

Makes 6 servings (four in our house)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

7/8 cup sugar

1 -2  tablespoons lemon zest

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ tsp salt

3 egg yolks (room temperature)

3 egg whites (room temperature)

1 ½ cup milk 

Beat butter and sugar until well combined. Add lemon, zest, lemon juice, egg yolks, salt and flour. Beat until light and fluffy.  Gradually add milk and blend well. 

Beat egg whites until stiff.

 Fold into lemon mixture.  

Pour into GREASED 6-cup baking dish or casserole. 

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until nicely brown. 

Serve at room temperature and enjoy!

 
 

Speaking of mothers and daughters, that shadowy figure Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between artist and photographer, Victoria Maffini, and her mother, Mary Jane Maffini, author of three mystery series. Their book collector series blends contemporary mystery, humor and classics from the Golden Age of Detection.  Of course, there are also dogs and cats. The Christie Curse, The Sayers Swindle and The Wolfe Widow  will be followed by The Marsh Madness in September. But you can PREORDER IT NOW!

We  hang out on Mystery Lovers Kitchen on the second and fourth Saturdays every month, although sometimes we get tricky. 

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