Sticky Apple Pudding

About 10 years ago I would get together and cook with a friend of mine. I didn’t know much about food then, she was a fabulous cook, so it generally fell to her to choose the recipes. We always had a blast cooking, while attempting to sing along with Cibo Matto and Stereolab and drinking way too much wine.  One day she presented me with a recipe for an Apple Gateau by Anne Willian. I was terrible with a knife then and slicing all of the apples needed for the recipe took about a century. The payoff for my struggle was more than worth it and the beautiful simplicity of that recipe, with it’s gorgeous layers of  apple with orange sugar has stuck with me ever since.

Recently I did something I don’t normally do; I picked up a Martha Stewart magazine. I couldn’t resist, it was the holiday baking issue and the cover looked too delicious to pass up. While perusing it that afternoon I noticed they had a recipe for a pear terrine that was reminiscent of the Willian recipe I made a decade ago and decided it was high time I made my own version. With the fires of my imagination effectively stoked, I began to peel, slice and stack for my little puddings. I used my favorite accompaniments for a sweet apple recipe, dark rum, vanilla bean and cinnamon. I am a complete sucker for this combination with apple and use it to flavor everything from apple pies and crisps to French toast. I hope you like it too!

The recipe I have provided for you is for one large pudding, but like the photo above it can easily be split up to make 8 individual ones. I have made little notations in the text when the methods differ.

Thanks for visiting and don’t forget to check back in a few days for the next recipe in The 2009 Endive Chronicles Holiday Bonanza!

Sticky Apple Pudding

9 Firm Baking Apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced into rings, if you have a mandolin use it.

1 cup  Sugar

1 cup Dark Rum, (I used Meyer)

1 Vanilla Bean, split and seeds scraped

1 Cinnamon Stick, broken in half

A few pinches Sea Salt

8 TBS Butter

In a sauce pan place the, sugar, rum, vanilla bean and seeds, cinnamon stick and salt. Bring to a boil and reduce the liquid by half. Remove from the heat and allow to steep overnight in the fridge.

Line the bottom of a souffle pan or other high sided mold with parchment paper and create a collar. If using ramekins it is only necessary to line the bottom. Preheat your oven to 325F.

Over medium heat, warm your rum mixture and add in the butter. Fill your mold with apples, being mindful to create an aestheticly  pleasing design and brush each layer with the buttered rum mixture. For the smaller version I found that simple stacks look the best. Pour remaining rum mixture over the top.

Place the mold (or molds) in a large baking dish, place it in the oven and carefully fill the baking dish with boiling water halfway up the mold and cover. Bake for 2 hours covered and 90 more uncovered, the larger version may need an extra 30-45 minutes. Check occasionally after the first two hours by inserting a knife partway in, it should not encounter any resistance. Cool until you are able to safely handle the mold. For the large mold, place your chosen serving vessel over the top of the mold and quickly invert. Beware, there will likely be rogue juices. Carefully remove the mold and remove the parchment. For the smaller version, I invert the ramekin over a large slotted spatula held over a smallish bowl to catch the juices. Place the pudding on a serving plate and drizzle with the juices.

Serve warm as is or with whipped cream.

Serves 8

Note: This can be made ahead and re-warmed before serving. Be sure to keep it in the mold until serving. Oh, and if your molds are glass, bring to room temp before warming so as not to weaken or break the mold.