Recipes

Martha's Vineyard Catering, Culinary & Agricultural Experiences

Plum Puddings and Hard Sauce

You can find our plum puddings for sale here.Every holiday season, we create 100s of puddings out of of our day old croissants and popovers. We have been making puddings for over 20years and it has become a Kitchen Porch tradition to have a plum pudding.To serve our plum pudding, steam for 1 more hours in the plastic cryovac bag and invert on a serving platter. Add the 1 cup cognac or bourbon, heat, pour over warm pudding, and flame with a match. Serve with hard sauce.We have a new recipe for the hard sauce that leaves out the powdered sugar. What’s wrong with powdered sugar? Everything! For one the taste, for two, the environment.  Corn starch is made from corn, which is made from GMO corn and even if we leave out the chalky residue, taste aside, it’s just plain yucky stuff. But it is called for in so many baking applications- especially this time of year! We say look for the organic  powered sugar if you must use it in a recipe. Most organic brands are made from tapioca. Pure tapioca (also known as cassava) tastes a bit sweet. And as a  starch, it feels smooth and silky on the tongue. It is also a great thickener, as it will absorb liquids  and swell before it's boiling-hot which is a good thickener without the cooking process. This is great for low cook or no-cook desserts.

Hard Sauce
 
Ingredients
  • 8 ounces whipped unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 cups sifted organic confectioners' sugar - made with tapioca
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 5 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 5 tablespoons cognac
Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth and creamy. This can be made days ahead of time