New England Indian Pudding

When I was doing research for my new Skillet Diva “An American Gal’s Cookbook, ” I ran across this wonderful recipe for New England Indian Pudding. OMGosh! It is sooo delicious! It is the perfect dessert for a cold winter day! You’ve gotta try it! It is most certainly our first American comfort food!

New England Indian Pudding

Recipe by: Bobbi Jo Lathan

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Serves: 4-6

PREP TIME

15 mins

COOK TIME

2 hours

TOTAL TIME

2 hours 15 mins

INGREDIENTS

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1⁄2 cup yellow cornmeal

1⁄2 cup sugar

1⁄2 cup un-sulfured molasses

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

4 eggs, beaten

4 tablespoons butter (unsalted), softened

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat your oven to 275°. Grease a 2-quart baking dish. (I’ve found that my porcelain baking dish works best.)

2. In a medium-sized pot, scald the milk over medium-low heat.

3. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the heavy whipping cream, cornmeal, sugar, molasses, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground ginger until blended.

4. Slowly add this cornmeal-molasses mixture into the scalded milk, whisking constantly, over your medium-low heat for about 6-7 minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken, and you will end up with a syrupy consistency.

5. In a medium- sized bowl, beat your eggs together. Add 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the hot, syrupy, cornmeal-milk mixture to the eggs and whisk like heck. (You don’t want fried egg so we warm the eggs up slowly this way by tempering them.) Once your eggs are tempered, add them into the pot with the cornmeal-molasses mixture and whisk to blend. Then, add the butter and whisk that into the entire mixture until incorporated.

6. Place your baking dish into a larger baking pan. Pour the pudding mixture into the buttered baking dish. Then, pour some hot water into the larger baking pan, about half the way up the outer baking pan. This will serve as a water bath for your pudding while it cooks.

7. Place this in the oven and bake for 21⁄2 hours or until the pudding is set. Then, remove from the oven, take the pudding out of the larger pan, and let it cool for about 5 minutes.

NOTES

To Serve: Scoop the pudding out while it is still warm . Top with a little vanilla ice cream or whipped cream .