Hasty Pudding
Humble, yet heavenly to eat, this recipe for American style hasty pudding is perfect when you need a simple and comforting cold weather dessert. Essentially a rich cornmeal porridge laced with molasses and classic autumn spices, it makes the whole kitchen smell incredibly cozy. And after being topped with the requisite scoop of good vanilla ice cream, the alchemy is truly irresistible. My favorite finishing trick is to sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt (like Maldon) over the top before scooping on the ice cream....utterly sublime.
Servings 4 servings
Equipment
- four ramekins (4 ounce capacity)
Ingredients
- 2½ cups whole milk
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
- ⅓ cup yellow cornmeal fine or medium grind
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (plus more for greasing the ramekins)
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- vanilla ice cream for serving, but absolutely necessary!
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 325℉. Lightly grease the ramekins with butter, and place them on a baking sheet.
- Combine the milk, brown sugar, cornmeal, molasses, cinnamon, and ginger in a heavy saucepan. Whisk over medium heat until the pudding mixture bubbles and thickens up, but remains pourable enough to be ladled into the ramekins, about 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat.
- Whisk in the butter and vanilla extract until thoroughly incorporated.
- Ladle the pudding mixture evenly into the four ramekins.
- Bake until the puddings are golden brown on top and the centers still appear a bit jiggly, but not liquid, when the pan is shaken.
- Allow the puddings to cool for 10 minutes, and then serve with a very generous scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.