Solsberry Bog Puddings

While I was making those individual Sussex Pond Puddings, I thought I'd really put a Hoosier twist to it and make some with other fillings.    They were wonderful!





There's not enough goo in these to call them Pond Puddings, so I think we need to adjust the name.   We considered these names:

• Solsberry Wetland Puddings
• Solsberry Drought Puddings
• Solsberry Marsh Puddings
• Solsberry Bog Puddings
• Solsberry Puddle Puddings

I'm leaning toward Solsberry Bog Puddings.   These puddings are soft and boggy, not runny.  Plus, there's a real bog with a beaver pond next to it a mile or so west of us, so it fits where we live, too.   Vote for your favorite name in the comments!

Pastry [Enough for 3 individual puddings]

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter or shortening
• 1/3 cup milk + a Tablespoon or so

Combine the flour, bread crumbs and salt.  Cut in the butter or shortening until fine.   Add milk.  Stir together to form dough.   It will be soft.  

Divide dough into thirds.    Roll each into a round disk about 1/4 inch thick.   Cut out one quarter of the dough to save for the top.   Fit the rest of the dough into a cone shape and press it into the cup or ramekin.  Trim off excess dough and keep it for the top.   Fill the puddings.

Roll or press the remaining dough into circles for the tops of the puddings.   Seal, etc. as described here:  Sussex Pond Puddings - Hoosier Style 

Filling:
For our version of the puddings, all you have to do is choose a fruit, then choose a sweetener.   This is a great way to use up leftover bits of fruit and an even better way to use that jam you've been making all year.  This is definitely one of my favorite TTDWAJOJ.   [Things To Do With A Jar Of Jam].

For the fruit, we used bananas, lemons, peaches from a can, and apples.  You can use any kind of fruit, fresh or canned. 

For the sweet, we used brown sugar, maple syrup, apple-pear maple jam, strawberry rhubarb jam and orange marmalade.  You could also use honey, white sugar, turbinado sugar, agave, etc.   These were really good!   Here are the combinations we used.

Lemon and brown sugar.   This is very close to the traditional Sussex Pond Pudding recipe I told you about before. 1/2 lemon per ramekin.  Three tablespoons brown sugar.   Plus the butter.

Lemon and marmalade.  1/2 lemon per ramekin.   Two generous spoonfuls of marmalade that hadn't jelled right.  Plus the butter.  Loved this one!!  

Banana and brown sugar.   Like Bananas Foster without the booze.  One medium banana sliced per ramekin.  2 Tablespoons brown sugar.  Plus the butter.    To. Die. For.  

Peach and Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam.   I used sliced peaches out of a can to see if it would work.   Oh, it worked!  Let the juice drip off a bit before you put the peaches in the pastry.    You could also slice up a fresh peach, of course.  Two generous spoonfuls of jam.  Plus the butter. 

Apples and maple syrup.   About a quarter of a large apple cut up fit into a ramekin if you piled it in.  Since apples shrink a lot during cooking, I piled high.    Two tablespoons of maple syrup.   This was a huge favorite.

Apples and Apple-Pear Maple Jam.   About a quarter of a large apple cut up.  Two generous spoonfuls of jam.  Plus the butter.   Wonderful!

Don't be afraid to mix and match your fruit and jam.   Just because you're using peaches doesn't mean you need to use a peach jam.   Be bold.

Enjoy!