 I found a recipe recently, called "Ozark Pudding" which was all the rage during Truman's administration because his wife, Bess, served it at the White House. Her special guest, in 1946 was Winston Churchill. It became a national craze shortly afterwards. It was originally cooked in a cast-iron skillet and was based on apples. This recipe switched out the apples to pears (both are yummy) and I've messed with it quite a bit to get rid of the flour and most of the sugar. Here is my rendition and it passes for actual dessert, esp with a dollop of pure whipped cream: 3 medium organic pears, chopped fine (about 3 cups) If they're organic, you need not peel them, just scrub well 2 medium organic pears, sliced thin for the topping 1 cup almond meal/flour (Trader Joe's) 1/2 TBSP baking powder 2+ tsp ground ginger (I use a Tbsp, loving ginger very much) 1/2 tsp fine sea salt 1/2 cube organic butter, micro til soft 1/3 cup organic sugar (TJ's) 2 eggs, room temp (put into a bowl of hot water for a few min) 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup sliced almonds Grease with butter or coconut oil a 10 inch round ceramic baking dish (or whatever you have, including a cast-iron skillet! But the ceramic cleans up so well with very little greasing) Preheat oven to 350 - Place rack in center of oven Using a whisk, mix together in medium size bowl the almond meal, baking powder, ginger and salt. Make sure all the ginger and baking powder are mixed in well - no lumps. With a hand mixer, blend the butter and sugar til mixture resembles sand. Add eggs and vanilla and mix til light - about 3 - 4 min, scraping down bowl frequently. With mixer on low, blend in all of the almond meal at once, mixing til just blended. Mixture will be stiff. With a rubber spatula, mix in the chopped pears and 1/4 cup of sliced almonds. Dump batter into prepared dish and smooth out top with a rubber spatula. Arrange the sliced pears in a pretty design, sprinkle on the remaining 1/4 cup sliced almonds, and bake until golden and edges look done. In a 10 in round pan this takes about 34 min. Start testing at 30 min. You don't want it too done and therefore dry. Serve while warm - either plain or with whipped cream (not dream-whip!!). Viola, for those counting carbs and avoiding grains and flours this is such a treat. It has a total of less than 10 grams carbs per serving! Reducing the sugar from 1 cup down to 1/3 cup and switching the flour over to almond meal is the trick. My daughter and I were discussing the use of the term "pudding" for this recipe (which today we would call "cake") Since this recipe is from the 1800's and from the Ozarks, we know that most of these people were British descendents. Remember "Plum Pudding" which is actually a cake? Oh, those Brits! |
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