Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding #recipe from @MysteryMacRae

 

The last recipe I shared was for homemade Golden Syrup, and I promised my next post would be this recipe for Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding. Steamed pudding is a classic British dessert made in a thick crockery dish called a pudding basin or a pudding bowl. I have a lovely blue and white striped one from Cornwall. 

The pudding turned out exactly as I’d hoped – a warming, comforting, not overly sweet dessert for a cold day. I'm not thrilled about using parchment paper and aluminum foil, only to toss them afterwards, but don't know of a good alternative. If you do, please let me know in the comments. We all enjoyed the pudding immensely. Here’s how you can make one, too.

Ingredients

110g (1/2 cup) golden syrup – divided

175g (12 Tablespoons – 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

125g (5/8 cup) brown sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten

175g (1 1/3 cup) self-rising flour

1/4 cup milk

More golden syrup to serve (we didn’t add more, though next time I might make pouring custard to go with the pudding).

You'll also need a 2 pint pudding basin, parchment paper; aluminum foil; heavy cotton string; a large deep soup kettle with lid; a heatproof saucer, trivet, or steamer basket for the pudding basin to sit on inside the kettle 

Directions

Butter a 2-pint pudding basin then pour 1/4 cup golden syrup in the bottom. Set aside.

Beat the remaining 1/4 cup golden syrup, the butter, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in half of the eggs, then stir in half the flour. Stir in the rest of the eggs and flour along with the milk.

Spoon the mixture into the pudding basin (it shouldn’t come up above 1-inch from the top). Smooth the surface.

Cut a circle of parchment twice the diameter of the top of the pudding basin. Make a 1-inch pleat down the middle of the circle. Repeat with the aluminum foil. The pleats allow the pudding to rise as it cooks.

not exactly round, but it worked

Cover the pudding basin with the pleated parchment circle with the pleat over the center of the basin. Cover the parchment with the pleated foil.

Tie the pudding tightly around the rim with the string. Make a lifting handle by crossing more string across the top of the basin. This will help you lift the pudding out of the kettle after its cooked. Trim excess paper and foil, leaving a 1-inch border, and turn the edges in on themselves to seal.

Put a heatproof saucer, small trivet, or steamer basket in the large, deep kettle. Put the pudding basin on top. Add enough just-boiled water to the pan to come halfway up the sides of the basin. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid (I added a layer of foil across the top of my kettle because the lid has a steam hole in it).

Cook, over lowest heat, allowing the pudding to steam in gently simmering water for 1 3/4  hours. Make sure the kettle doesn’t boil dry – add more just-boiled water if necessary.

The pudding is done when a fine skewer inserted into the middle of the pudding (through the foil and parchment) comes out clean. Turn off the heat. Carefully lift the basin out of the kettle and let stand for 5 minutes.

Cut the string from the basin. Discard the foil and parchment. Run a flat-bladed knife around the edge of the pudding to loosen the sides. Carefully invert onto a plate and remove the basin. Cut into wedges and serve with extra golden syrup, pouring custard, or vanilla ice cream. 

In bookstores and libraries now!

About Argyles and Arsenic – book 5 in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries:

After 93 well-lived years, Violet MacAskill is ready to simplify her life. Her eccentric solution? She’ll throw a decanting and decluttering party at her family home—a Scottish Baronial manor near the seaside town of Inversgail, Scotland. Violet sets aside everything she wants or needs, then she invites her many friends in to sip sherry and help themselves to whatever they want from all that’s left.

But a murder during Violet’s party leads to a poisonous game of cat and mouse – with the women of Yon Bonnie Books playing to win.

Available in hardback and e-book from your locally owned independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. Or ask your public library to consider ordering it.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine since 1990 and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.