I was cleaning my fridge today and found myself with a few bits and pieces that needed using up. Some milk, eggs, bread and a bit of strawberry jam in the bottom of a jar. I could have just made a bread and buttery pudding, but I wanted to do something a little bit more special than that.
One of the things I really enjoyed in the UK was their propensity for creating beautiful puddings/desserts out of next to nothing. The British are masters at creating delicious desserts, or puddings as they are lovingly referred to over there.
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I decided to make a small batch Queen of Puddings. You might be tempted to ask what is Queen of Puddings. Its a fabulous dessert!
Invented back in the 1600's Queen of Puddings is bread crumb thickened set custard, spread with jam and topped with meringue. Essentially it is the perfect way to use up a bit of bread, eggs, jam and milk!
And who better to go to for inspiration than the "Queen" of puddings herself, Mary Berry! I love Mary Berry and the recipe I am sharing with you today comes from this cookbook, her complete cookbook.
I have to say that I have not enjoyed the GBBO a fraction as much now she is not on it anymore. She made that show in my honest opinion!
No, I am not a person that deals well with change.
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This is a recipe that I adapted from the book. Essentially I cut the recipe down to feed only three people and I converted the measurements to North American measures so that people in North American could also cook it.
I have made Queen of Puddings on here before. You can find that recipe here, and it is a very good one, but it's not Mary Berry's. I wanted to try hers.
I did make a few changes. One, I used more jam than she did. I needed to use what was left in the jar and I like jam. I had no desire to be stingy with the jam.
Also I added cream of tartar to the meringue to give it more stability. Its not something you see being used very often in meringue in the UK, but trust me when I say it makes a huge difference.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE QUEEN OF PUDDINGS
This is such a simple pudding, using very simple every day ingredients. I am sure you have everything you need to make it in your fridge and larder right now.
For the pudding:
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 1 TBS butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 1/2 TBS fine granulated sugar
- the finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
- 3/4 cup (45g) fresh white bread crumbs
- 3 TBS strawberry or raspberry jam, warmed
For the meringue topping:
- 2 large free range egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 7 TBS fine granulated sugar
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For the milk, I always use whole milk. In fact that is all I have in my house. Its just richer in flavor and as being a single person household I can't really afford to have more than one kind of milk in the house and so I buy and use the one that will get the most use. Whole, not skim.
For the bread crumbs I used a couple of slices of stale homemade Brioche bread. Rich and eggy and beautifully soft.
The jam was the last of my strawberry jam from last year. My sister had given me a jar. Beautiful, delicious and not as high in sugar as some.
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HOW TO MAKE QUEEN OF PUDDINGS
This is really a very simple make. As you know I can be rather lazy. I had enough of complicated when I was working as a chef. I tend to like cooking much simpler things in my every day life.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch deep metal pie tin. Set aside.
Place the milk into a saucepan with the, orange zest, butter and first amount of sugar. Heat just until the butter melts, the sugar dissolves and there are bubbles around the edge of the pan.
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Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Gradually add the milk mixture, whisking continuously. Stir in the bread crumbs and then pour the mixture into the buttered dish. Leave to sit for 15 minutes.
Pop into the preheated oven and bake until just set, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Beat the egg whites along with the cream of tartar until they start to stiffen. Continue to beat whilst adding the sugar for the meringue one tablespoonful at a time. Beat until the meringue is glossy and forms nice stiff peaks.
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Spread the jam over the bread custard. Spoon the meringue over top covering it completely and making nice peaks.
Return the pudding to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until the top of the meringue is crisp and golden brown. Serve warm and spooned into bowls.
The British would enjoy this with additional lashings of warm custard or pouring cream. I enjoyed it just as is.
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I can remember when I first moved over to the UK being a bit confused when it came to the term "pudding." For me pudding had always been a milky dessert, thick and creamy, available in three flavors, vanilla, butterscotch and chocolate.
It came in a box and you could either cook it or you could get boxed mixes that allowed you to make it "instantly."
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In the UK "Pudding" is the term they use to describe the dessert course. It can be pie, or crumble, or cake, ice cream, or bakes such as this one, etc. It is always delicious and is most people's favorite part of any meal.
It will come to the table accompanied with jugs of warm custard sauce or cold cream for pouring, whereas here in North American we might enjoy our "puddings/desserts" with cold ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.
The British never sweeten their cream and I have to say I quite got used to it that way and love it. We eat far too much sugar here in North America I think!
Anyways, I hope you will be inspired to try this very traditional, very delicious, simple British dessert!
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STICKY TOFEE RICE PUDDING - Creamy and rich there is no sugar in the rice pudding itself. It relies on the sweetness from chopped dates to flavour it, and some vanilla. Topped with a rich toffee sauce and toasted pecans.
MIXED BERRY PUDDING - Rich, hearty, warming and delicious with stewed summer fruits . . . berries . . . blueberry, raspberry, blackberry . . . baked at the bottom of the dish, with a light blanket of cake baked on top . . . buttery and rich . . . with a moist yogurt batter. Delicious!
BUTTERMILK LEMON PUDDINGS FOR TWO - Lemon pudding on the bottom, dense buttery buttermilk cake on top. Delicious served with fresh tart berries. It doesn't get much better than this!
Mary Berry's Queen of Puddings (small batch)
Yield: Serves 3
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 H & 5 M
A delightful pudding that never fails to please, downsized for the smaller family. A bit of this and a bit of that and a lot of British ingenuity. Delicious!
Ingredients
For the pudding:
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- 1 1/4 cups (300ml) whole milk
- 1 TBS butter, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 1/2 TBS fine granulated sugar
- the finely grated zest of 1/2 orange
- 3/4 cup (45g) fresh white bread crumbs
- 3 TBS strawberry or raspberry jam, warmed
For the meringue topping:
- 2 large free range egg whites
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 7 TBS fine granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 inch deep metal pie tin. Set aside.
- Place the milk into a saucepan with the, orange zest, butter and first amount of sugar. Heat just until the butter melts, the sugar dissolves and there are bubbles around the edge of the pan.
- Beat the egg yolks in a bowl. Gradually add the milk mixture, whisking continuously. Stir in the bread crumbs and then pour the mixture into the buttered dish. Leave to sit for 15 minutes.
- Pop into the preheated oven and bake until just set, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Beat the egg whites along with the cream of tartar until they start to stiffen. Continue to beat whilst adding the sugar for the meringue one tablespoonful at a time. Beat until the meringue is glossy and forms nice stiff peaks.
- Spread the jam over the bread custard. Spoon the meringue over top covering it completely and making nice peaks.
- Return the pudding to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes, until the top of the meringue is crisp and golden brown.
- Serve warm.
Thanks so much for visiting! Do come again!
Looks lovely. I have to say though the British do sweeten their cream. We call it cream (or creme) Chantilly. We sweeten it with icing or caster sugar and add vanilla. Delicious
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was just my own experience Karen that I didn't ever have cream offered to me that was sweetened the whole time I was in the UK. It was always only offered in small jugs, unsweetened. I have heard of Creme Chantilly though, so perhaps they are two separate things? Thank you! xo
DeleteThanks so much for these small batch recipes. This looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome! Its nice to be appreciated! Yes, it is very delicious! xo
DeleteWhen you say white bread crumbs, do you dry the bread in the oven or toast lightly, then crush into crumbs...or are they bigger dry pieces ? Can regular plain crumbs or graham cracker crumbs work? Thank you! This looks scrumptious!
ReplyDeleteI mean fresh white bread crumbs. Soft. The kind you make by putting fresh or stale bread into a food processor. Not dry. Not toasted. You can not use dried crumbs or graham cracker crumbs. Hope this helps to clarify! xo
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