Carrot pudding with buttery sauce
Instructions:
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Because of their sweet taste and smooth texture, carrots, though neither fruit nor berry, have been used as an ingredient in desserts. Sometime between the early Colonial and frontier days, all kinds of desserts made with carrots as an ingredient had emerged. Carrot puddings and cakes do not appear in old historical cookbooks, but they do appear in all collections of "favorite old recipes" from the early 1900s and late 1800s, with notations such as "I always make this for Thanksgiving Dinner." Steamed, this is served with a buttery brown-sugar sauce or a lemon-flavored sauce.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour;
- 1 teaspoon baking soda;
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon;
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg;
- 1 teaspoon allspice;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves;
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt;
- 1 cup fine dry bread crumbs;
- 1 cup tightly packed light or dark brown sugar;
- 1 cup finely shredded carrots;
- 1 cup shredded raw potato;
- 1 cup ground seedless raisins;
- 1 cup chopped walnuts;
- 1 cup chopped or ground suet;
- 1 tablespoon dark molasses;
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten;
- Buttery Sauce or Lemon Sauce
- In a large bowl, combine the ingredients in the order given except for the molasses, eggs, and sauce. Blend the molasses and eggs together, then stir into the mixture. Butter a 2-quart steaming mold or pudding mold. Turn mixture into the mold. Cover top of mold with wax paper and cover with a square of folded muslin. Tie with twine to fasten. If the mold has its own cover, simply cover with wax paper, then with the cover of the mold. Or, turn into 8 individual molds, about 6 ounces each. Molds should be filled two-thirds full. Place onto rack in deep steamer, kettle, or roaster.
- Add boiling water to pan, up to the level of the rack. Cover kettle and maintain a simmer, adding water if necessary. Steam large molds for 3 hours, or until a skewer inserted through the center comes out clean; or steam individual molds for 11⁄2 hours. Remove pudding from molds and serve hot. Or, wrap and freeze; rewarm by steaming to serving temperature (or rewarm in microwave oven, being careful not to overheat the pudding).
MAKES 8 SERVINGS