Pouding Chômeur & an Anniversary

Tags

desserts, maple syrup, maple syrup cake, maple syrup dessert, Quebec, Quebec desserts, Quebec maple products

Oh Lidia celebrates 1 year today! Yay! And what a year it’s been! Who knew I would so be enjoying this blogging thing? I’ll tell you who. Sue! Sue knew. This was her idea. I still recall the e-mail she sent back in March 2012. Simple. “I’ve been thinking. I think you should start a food blog. Actually, you must start a food blog. You must!”. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Well, not quite. There were a few hitches. Such as not-so encouraging comments. Like, “Oh, not another food blog!”. And, “What’s the purpose of a food blog?”. Or this one, “A blog? Don’t you have to BE someone to have a blog?”. I think they meant someone of importance. Someone knowledgeable who people could look up to. Well, I can tell you this. I’m pretty important to my daughters and they look up to me. They also believe that I know everything!

Oh, and then there was the confidence issue. Not believing that I could do it. In late March 2012, Sue had pretty much set-up my blog and showed me how to go about it. By the time June rolled around, I still hadn’t done anything with it. Why? I wasn’t a writer. I would be terrible at it. I can still recall my creative writing class in college. On the first day of class, the professor went through the course outline and stated that he would be calling upon students every class and have them read their writing out loud. And at the very end of that first class, I went straight to the admin office and dropped that class! No joke. In August, her hubby Halvdan asked my what the problem was. I told him. “I’m not a writer. I can’t write! I look at other blogs and I can’t do what they’re doing. What will people think?”. And then came his words of wisdom: “You don’t want to do what others are doing. You have to be you. And you’re not doing this for anyone. You’re doing it for you. Because it’s your passion. Just write the way you talk to me about food. Pretend you’re talking to me or Sue.” One week later, I launched my blog. And now it’s one year later! Hurray!

Thank you my friends! And not just those who gave me that gentle shove. To all my good friends who have encouraged and supported me. To my family, Carmine and Franca. To hubby and my girls, Charlotte and Emma. Especially them. For keeping them waiting while they were starving because I had to take just one more picture. And then when dinner was finally on the table, asking them to wait just a smidgen longer for that final photo. And to all of my new friends. That would be you! For without you, this blog would be pretty much non-existent. So thank you!

And now, on to the good stuff! Pouding Chômeur and a giveaway! 

I was once asked if I preferred receiving or giving gifts. I LOVE to give gifts. And to celebrate the first anniversary of Oh Lidia, I will be giving one of you a Maple Syrup Bundle. Maple syrup, maple butter and maple sugar! All pure, and all made in La Belle Province, Quebec. This way, you could make my Maple Syrup Cake. Or my Rhubarb-Maple Syrup Crème Brûlée (Yumminess in a Jar).  And even this very sinful Pouding Chômeur. If you’re into bourbon, why not give my Bourbon & Maple Syrup Fusion a try. Leave a comment if you’re interested in entering the draw, and I will contact the winner in just over a week.

Pouding Chômeur is a typical Quebecois dessert made with maple syrup. Chômeur meaning unemployed person in French, this dessert literally translates to unemployed person’s pudding, or poor man’s pudding. It was created by female factory workers during the Great Depression, in 1929. It consists of a maple syrup and cream sauce that is poured over the top of a cake batter. During the baking process, the sauce ends up on the bottom, all thick and gooey. And wickedly delicious! But it wasn’t always so. During the Depression, this dessert was meant to reflect its working-class roots. Back then, only the very basic of ingredients were available to these female factory workers: butter, flour, milk and brown sugar. No eggs, no cream. And definitely no maple syrup as it was too expensive. The original Pouding Chômeur cake batter was made without eggs, and its rich and sweet sauce was made up of brown sugar and water. I’ve had the original version, made by hubby himself. It’s good. But once you’ve tasted the “very rich poor man’s pudding”, oh my! There’s no turning back!

Maple Syrup Pouding Chômeur

2 cups of pure Maple Syrup

2 cups of 35% cream, heavy or double cream

1 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring to boil the maple syrup and the cream. Set aside once it reaches a boil.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and milk, alternating between the two. Add vanilla and mix well. Pour the batter in a large baking dish or pan, a 10-cup capacity, and spread evenly.

Carefully pour the maple syrup and cream sauce over the cake batter.

Bake for 40 minutes and let it cool slightly. We like to eat ours warm so within 20 or 30 minutes, we’re ready to dig in!

You can also bake this in Mason jars. Pour some cake batter about half way up the jars and then pour some of the syrup sauce over the batter, stopping at about 1/4 away from the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the batter comes out clean.

Yumminess in a Jar

Tags

creme brûlée, desserts, maple syrup, rhubarb, rhubarb and creme brulee, rhubarb and maple syrup, rhubarb-maple syrup creme brûlée

Rhubarb-Maple Syrup Crème Brûlée

I just love the presentation of individual-sized desserts. You can have so much fun with it. Like using pretty cocktail or wine glasses, as I did with White Chocolate and Passionfruit Mousse. I especially love it when desserts are baked in a variety of different vessels and presented as is. Like my Maple Syrup Cake baked in the maple syrup tin. Or baked goodies in glass jars! How clever is that? Your very own little jar of yumminess to hold in your hand, all to yourself. I think it’s genius that you can see through the various layers. It’s reminiscent of an old-fashioned dessert, some sweet comfort from the deep South. They are practical as heck to transport. They make the most adorable gifts. And they’re just plain ol’ cute!

I thought I’d try making Crème Brûlée in individual sized Mason jars. The wide-mouth jars, to make it easier to scoop your spoon in and out of. And not just any Crème Brûlée either. Quebec Rhubarb is making its appearance at the farmers’ markets, therefore combining it with maple syrup and adding it at the bottom of the jar would make for a pleasant and sweet-tart surprise, no? And infusing it all with a little fresh rosemary? Just picture it. The custard is lightly flavoured with maple syrup and there is just a hint of infused rosemary to it. And when you plunge your spoon all the way down to the bottom of the jar, you come up with that sublime custard and the tarty rhubarb-rosemary-maple syrup flavour combination. Definitely not for the Crème Brûlée purist. Like my brother! He had a taste and declared that when he wants to eat a Crème Brûlée, he doesn’t want anything else in it. He’ll take the classic and, according to him, only version of this sumptuous dessert. I, on the other hand, like to create and diversify. And I sure am glad I came across this recipe at edible Green Mountains. I just love it!

Give it a try and decide for yourself if you’re a Crème Brûlée purist, or if you enjoy a little adventure when plunging into one of these delectable yummies! You can omit the maple syrup if it’s hard to come by and cook the rhubarb with brown sugar or honey instead. Not a rosemary fan? Skip it. Or try it with fresh lavender! Oh, yum!

Rhubarb-Maple Syrup Crème Brûlée

2 cups of diced rhubarb
¼ cup of maple syrup
1 teaspoon finely diced fresh rosemary
1 cup of 35% cream, heavy or double cream
¼ teaspoon of vanilla
2 large rosemary sprigs
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
4 tablespoons of maple sugar
4 four-ounce ramekins, or 4 250 ml Mason/Ball jars

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a small pan, add the rhubarb, 1/4 cup of maple syrup and chopped rosemary. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

While the rhubarb cooks, add the cream, vanilla and rosemary sprigs in a small pan and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cream just starts to bubble. Remove from heat. Remove the rosemary sprigs, along with any leaves that may have dislodged from the stem.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg, egg yolk and maple syrup with a whisk. While whisking, slowly pour the hot cream into the egg mixture. Divide the rhubarb evenly on the the bottom of the ramekins or jars.

Pour the cream over the rhubarb in each jar, filling to the top with the ramekins or just below the top if using jars. They need to bake in a water bath. Therefore, place a casserole dish or a deep oven dish into the oven and transfer the jars to that dish. Pour some hot tap water into the dish until it reaches half way up the sides of the jars. Bake for about 35 minutes, until the custard quivers when shaken but there is no longer any liquid underneath the skin. Cool the custard in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour and up to 3 days.

When cool, or when you’re ready to serve them, sprinkle the maple sugar over each custard. You can use white sugar instead if you don’t have maple sugar. If you have a little blow torch, go ahead and burn the sugar until it’s nice and dark. No torch? Adjust your oven rack to the highest location in the oven. Turn on the broil. Add the jars or ramekins on the top rack, just under the broiler, for about 5 minutes. Every oven is different so give it a look after 3 minutes. When the sugar had burned, they’re done! Remove from the oven, give them a few minutes for the sugar coating to crystallize and serve. Enjoy!