Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Recipes / Dessert / Cranberry-ginger caramel pudding

Cranberry-ginger caramel pudding

by Jeanne Horak on December 23, 2007 11 Comments in Dessert, Sugar High Fridays, Vegetarian

Cranberry ginger caramel pudding

I have a confession to make (no, don’t worry, it won’t be as scandalous as my recent Skeletons in the Pantry post…!).  It’s just that I’ve never really liked Christmas pudding.

I know – it’s kind of freaky, but there you go.

While everybody else looked forward to the Christmas pudding as the highlight at the end of the Christmas lunch, I’d be thinking “hmmm, I wonder if I can ask for a double scoop of neat brandy butter if I forego the pudding?”.  To me, Christmas pudding was just an obstacle to overcome in the search for a 5 cent piece or two that my mom always hid in the pudding.

Over the years, I have learnt that there are Christmas puddings and Christmas puddings.  I have developed a grudging liking for ones that are heavy on the fruit (but not citrus peel!!) and low on the actual dough, or ones that feature more exciting ingredients like cranberries.  But given a choice, I would never make or serve Christmas pudding myself.

So what to do when you’ve invited some friends over for a pre-Christmas lunch, the roast is in the oven, the weather is simply freezing, and the whole scenario is just crying out for a hot baked pudding with a festive twist?  Christmas pudding would be the path of least resistance, but I decided instead to beat a brand new path through the culinary brambles.

Requirement 1 was that it had to be a baked pudding, preferably self-saucing.  Requirement 2 was that it needed to reference the festive season somehow.  And bonus requirement 3 was that it use up some of the random leftover baking ingredients cluttering up my kitchen counters as we speak.  Which is how the glorious creation pictured above came about.

The recipe is an adaptation of my basic and beloved self-saucing apple caramel pudding, substituting crystallised ginger and dried cranberries for apple, and adding a bit of spice to the batter and sauce with ground ginger.  As we were 7 people and the recipe really only feeds 5 comfortably, I decided to double it.  Without cheking that I had a dish big enough to hold this.  Suffice to say I almost did.  Meaning that the syrupy sauce ended up bubbling over a little and landing on the floor of my oven – cue belching, acrid smoke as I opened the oven door 40 minutes later, and a lingering eau de charcoal in the house.  Also, if you are going to double the recipe, you will need a longer cooking time, as I discovered.  Possibly not double the cooking time, but definitely 1.5 the time. The combination of tart cranberries/ginger, crispy crust and rivers of caramel sauce is a winner – at Christmastime or anytime!

 

Cranberry ginger caramel pudding

 

CRANBERRY GINGER SELF-SAUCING PUDDING (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

FOR THE PUDDING:
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
20g butter, melted
1/2 cup (125ml) milk
1/2 a cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
1/2 a cup dried cranberries

FOR THE SAUCE:
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups (500ml) boiling water
60g butter, chopped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a 2 litre oven-proof dish.

Combine the flour, sugar, butter, ground ginger, milk and fruit in a large bowl and mix well.  Spread the mixture into the prepared dish.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted.

Pour the caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon over batter in dish.  Bake in a moderate oven for about 40 minutes or until firm in the centre – test with a skewer.

Serve immediately with custard. Do not let the pudding stand too long before serving as the sauce will be absorbed!

This is my entry into this month’s Sugar High Friday event, hosted by the lovely Zorra at 1 x umruehren bitte.  The theme is puddings – and who can resist those?!

More deliciousness for you!

  • Cranberry pistachio Bircher muesli – a Pret-a-Manger fakeawayCranberry pistachio Bircher muesli – a Pret-a-Manger fakeaway
  • Cranberry, pistachio & choc chip cookiesCranberry, pistachio & choc chip cookies
  • Cranberry, orange and pecan muffins for WTSIMCranberry, orange and pecan muffins for WTSIM
  • Rhubarb, cranberry and ginger foolRhubarb, cranberry and ginger fool

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Roast duck with pancetta and potatoes – an alternative Christmas meal
Merry Christmas everyone! »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Andrew says

    December 23, 2007 at 10:02 am

    Are you implying that it’s wrong to eat brandy butter direct from the tub… by the spoonful… ?
    Ooops…

    Reply
  2. Anne says

    December 23, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Ok, it’s confession time. I’ve never tried baked puddings like this. Never. Never ever. We just don’t have them. I’ve been eyeing recipes from Jamie and Nigella, but.. haven’t tried them. I just might have to, eventually, and this one looks really tasty. Also, umm, well, I have all the ingredients at home. But brandy butter? That I don’t have. Maybe a scoop of ice cream would work out? 🙂

    Reply
  3. Christmas Bellini Valli says

    December 23, 2007 at 5:21 pm

    I really love this idea! Every once in a while you find a recipe that just hits the mark completely. I am not a huge fan of heavy Christmas puddings after an already huge meal. This would be wonderful…bookmarked!

    Reply
  4. Ash says

    December 23, 2007 at 8:29 pm

    God, that looks fabulous. I think I like the look of it because it looks so much like asynpoeding, but with more stuff 🙂
    Happy Christmas!

    Reply
  5. johanna says

    December 23, 2007 at 11:01 pm

    dear oh dear, why now? now that i’ve done all my food shopping for the holidays? and i will be craving this pudding for days, if not weeks? it’s definitely one i am making when my parents are over, what a brilliant treat! having eaten it from you before, i know how delicious it is and the cranberris will make it irresistible. have fun skiing and i’ll see you when you’re back! (don’t break a leg, ok?)

    Reply
  6. zorra says

    December 24, 2007 at 9:27 am

    I’m happy I’m not the only one who is sometimes curing the kitchen. 😉 Your Pudding looks delicious.
    Thank you for your particpation in SHF and merry Christmas to you and your family.

    Reply
  7. Ann says

    December 28, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    Oh my… a “Christmas Pudding” I can love… I’m very excited about this! But I also need your original self-saucing apple caramel pudding recipe! Please?
    This look wonderful!

    Reply
  8. Penguin says

    January 2, 2008 at 8:11 am

    I made this for New Year’s Eve and it was absolutely wonderful. Thank you! It’s also delicious cold … and there’s so much sauce that it doesn’t get re-absorbed. Quite a lot of the cranberries and ginger bits floated out of the sponge and into the sauce but it didn’t matter at all – just made it more delicious!

    Reply
  9. cyn says

    January 4, 2008 at 11:20 am

    oh gawd. i love ginger in my desserts. what a perfectly sweet way to start the new year for me!!! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Antonia says

    January 4, 2008 at 10:17 pm

    This looks divine. I am a huge fan of the ‘self-saucing’ pudding and regularly make a chocolate one, a lemon one and a sticky toffee version. But this sounds like such a great and festive combination. PLEASE post the recipe for the apple and caramel one too as that sounds heavenly!
    Happy New Year!

    Reply
  11. suzi-k says

    January 10, 2008 at 7:10 am

    hi, thanks for visiting our PE Daily Photo blog. Oh dear, we are trying so hard to be GOOD and eat like bunnies since Max’s recent heart attack, but I just HAVE to try this one! Will probably have to substitute olive or peanut oil for the butter though, will let you know if it works! Fully agree about Christmas pudd, even worse when trying to force it into bloated overheated bod in the height of summer!

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Roosterkoek - a South African braai essential
Jan Ellis pudding - a classic South African dessert

Featured on

Also available on

The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT