Fruit Puddings
Plum Sponge Pudding
- 500g (1lb) ripe plums – washed, halved and stoned.
- 50gm (2oz) sugar.
- 1 dsp water.
For the sponge:
- 75g ( 3oz) butter or margarine, 75g (3oz) castor sugar, 110g (4oz) SR flour
- 2 large eggs, ¼ tsp baking powder.
Method
- Stew the plums with the sugar and water until lightly cooked. Cool
- Cream the butter and sugar and gradually beat in the lightly whisked eggs.
- Sieve the baking powder and salt. Fold it into the creamed mixture.
- Put the partially cooked plums in the bottom of a pie dish and cover with the cake mixture.
- Bake in a moderate oven(180°C, no5 gas) for approx. 40 mins. Reduce the temperature slightly to prevent the cake mixture from burning, if necessary.
- Serve with crème fraîche, cream or ice-cream.
Plum Pie
- 500g (1lb) ripe plums – washed, halved and stoned.
- 100g (4oz) sugar.
For the short crust pastry:
- 175g (6oz) plain flour
- 80g (3oz) margarine or butter.
- Pinch salt.
- Approx. 6 tsp cold water.
Method
- Sieve the flour and salt.
- Rub in the margarine until like fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the water to ensure the mixture forms a firm dough – don’t make it too wet.
To make up the pie:
- Prepare the fruit and layer with the sugar in a pie dish. The dish should be well filled as it will reduce during cooking.
- Roll out the pastry. Use a few slices from the side to line the edge of the pie dish the top the pie with the pastry. Seal the edges.
- Bake in a hot oven (200°C, no 6 gas) until the pastry is golden/light brown, then reduce the temperature to ensure the fruit is cooked – approx 40 minutes in total.
- Sprinkle the top with caster sugar and serve with custard or whipped cream.
– Recipe by M. McCartney ©
Apple and Blackberry Pie
I can’t believe that my old college cookery book has no recipe for blackberry pie. When I was a child this was definitely the dish I waited for all year. We went out blackberry picking when I was very young – my mother said that I ate more than I picked. In wet years, the blackberries may have been full of maggots – well each berry may have had its pet maggot but, I soon learned to ignore them in favour of the berries themselves. Blackberries are one of the real wild fruits available to us as the ‘brambles’ – the plants they come from are very hardy, deep-rooted, tenacious, so – are particularly difficult to eradicate. So, let’s make the most of them.
Ingredients – for a 1 litre (1½ – 2 pint) pie dish:
- 2 good-sized cooking apples – Bramleys for preference.
- 1 good sized punnet of blackberries( 1lb or 450 -500gm). The amount is not critical. The fruit must fit into your pie dish to fill it well.(the fruit will drop as it cooks).
- 3 Tblsp. sugar.
- Short crust pastry.
- 150g plain flour (6oz).
- 75g margarine or butter (3oz).
- 6 tsp cold water approx.(this amount may vary slightly depending on the weather and the flour you are using – you need the ingredients to bind together without being sticky).
Method
- Sieve the flour and salt into a baking bowl. Add the margarine and rub in with your finger tips to create a texture like fine breadcrumbs – don’t allow the mixture to become sticky.
- Add the water slowly to ensure the ingredients combine without becoming too soft.
- Knead gently to combine the ingredients for a short time – 1 minute.
Making the Pie:
- Preheat the oven to 180°C, Mark 6 gas
- Peel. Core and slice the apples and place half of them in the pie dish.
- Put in a layer of blackberries and a layer of the sugar.
- Repeat this process until the dish is full.
- Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured board to ½ cm thick approx.(¼in)to the shape of the pie dish. Cut off a strip of pastry wide enough to go around the rim of the dish
- Wet the edges of the pie dish with water and apply the strip to the edges. Wet the top of the pastry strip with water.
- Put the pastry on top of the pie. Trim and seal the edges. Put a small slit on the top of the pie to allow the steam to escape.
- Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes then reduce the temperature and bake for a further 15 – 20 minutes to ensure the fruit is cooked. Don’t allow the pastry to burn
- When baked, sprinkle the top with a little caster sugar immediately and serve with cream, ice-cream or crème fraîche.
Gooseberry Sponge Pudding
1 bag/tub of frozen gooseberries [ 350g or 12oz approx] – fresh are good too.
2 Tblsp sugar. You may need a little more as freezing can make the fruit sourer
1 spoonful of water
Method
•Defrost the gooseberries.
•Put them with the sugar and a spoonful of water into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Simmer until the fruit has cooked and is pulped. Don’t allow it to ‘catch’.
•Place in a greased pie dish and leave to cool
The topping
80 gm [3oz] butter – softened
80gm [3oz] castor sugar
2 eggs
110gm [4oz] self raising flour
Method
•Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy.
•Gradually work in the lightly whisked eggs.
•Fold in the sieved self-raising flour.
•Spread the mixture over the gooseberries in the pie dish., ensuring they are completely covered.
•Bake in a moderate oven [180°C, No 4 Gas] for 40 – 45 minutes.
•Serve hot with crème fraiche, cream or custard.
– Recipe by M. McCartney ©