April 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge: Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet. 

Suet, for those who don't know, is disgusting a flaky animal fat.  For numerous reasons (mainly time and money) I decided to opt out of using suet; instead, I used lard, which is still animal fat.  So I did not stray too far.  There  was a great deal of latitude in what type of pudding we made.  Since this is for the Daring Bakers, I decided to keep it sweet since the Daring Cooks has me doing something savory once a month.  I was really trying to avoid having to go out and buy specific ingredients for this challenge so i dug in the pantry a bit to see what goodies I had.  Lo and behold, dried cranberries were found!! Add to that the bit of leftover marmalade I had and a winning combo was born.  

 Now, it's not exactly gorgeous but it was quite delicious.  Warm and filling, with the sweet marmalade balanced by the rest of the pudding.  As he was eating it, hubby requested I make it again.

And yes, those are icing roses you see!  I'm taking a cake decorating class and was practicing; I thought they'd add a nice splash of color.  They aren't perfect, but for a first try, I think they're nice.   I'll post more on the cake decorating class later. 

Also, if you've noticed a lack of posts lately, it isn't because I've forgotten you.  It's due to the fact that hubby and I are currently looking for a house! It is tres exciting and even more time consuming!

Steamed Cranberry-Orange Pudding 

• 100 grams/4 ounces All-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1.5 teaspoons Baking powder
• 100 grams/4 ounces oats
• 75 grams/3 ounces  sugar
• 75 grams/ 3 ounces lard
• 1 large egg
• 6 to 8 tablespoons Cold milk
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp marmalade

Sift flour, salt, baking powder oats,  and sugar together.   Cut in the lard.  Mix in the egg and milk until you have a soft batter.  Stir in dried cranberries. 

Turn into a buttered 2-pint oven-safe pudding bowl and cover securely with buttered paper or aluminum foil.

Steam in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  Do this by heating the oven to 400.  In a pot large enough to hold your pudding bowl, lay down a steaming rack, plate, or bunched up foil (to prevent the bowl from touching the bottom of the pot).  Place the covered pudding bowl into the pot then fill with water until it comes halfway up the bowl.  Cover the pot and place in the oven. 

Once done, turn onto a plate to serve.