It’s coming up apples – two puddings for autumn bounty
In the Somerset village where I live, the roads are dotted with squished apples and villagers leave ‘help yourself’ buckets outside their doors. The trees are so heavily laden with green and red spheres that their branches droop under the weight. So a recipe for baked apple pudding, given to Emily by Mrs W Powell, seems the best way to begin this blog. It also happens to be the first recipe in Emily’s book. (And who wouldn’t want to eat a baked apple pudding anyway?)
Baked apple pudding /Mrs W. Powell
Take 6 large apples, peel & core them, boil them as for apple sauce, mixing while warm ¼ lb of butter, let it stand till cold, then add 4 eggs, the juice of one lemon & the peel cut very small & thin, with 2 teacupsful of grated bread, mix white sugar to your taste, & if you like cinnamon or cloves they may be added in boiling the apples, put a crust around the rim of the dish, you must be very particular that the ingredients be mixed cold or they will curdle.
This recipe certainly whetted my appetite and I was intrigued to try the combination of baked apples, egg and breadcrumbs. Usefully, this used up the leftover crusts which I save when my daughter makes crimpits. I learnt from Regula Ysewijn’s excellent book Pride and Pudding (2016) that fresh breadcrumbs were often used in puddings as a raising agent – makes sense when you think about it. So I gave it a go, assuming, of course, that the dish should be baked (obvious to Mrs Powell, who felt no need to specify that in her instructions). I did add the cinnamon and cloves, and about 2 tablespoons of sugar, and I was very particular to mix the ingredients when cold. Reader, they didn’t curdle.
The ‘pie’ didn’t hold its form when sliced but the taste was delicious - the acidity of the lemon and apples was very pleasant. Definitely moreish. And I confess it was a thrill to eat something, for the first time, that my great-great-great grandmother ate! If you’d like to give it a go, here is a simplified version in step-by-step instructions with which modern cooks are more familiar. Do let me know in the comments if you try it.
Peel, core and slice six large apples (Bramleys if you have them, or other cooking apples – they are more acidic and become fluffy when cooked)
Add the apples to a saucepan with a splash of water and heat until they become fluffy (optional but recommended: add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 3 cloves)
Remove from the heat, stir in 100g of butter until it melts and set aside to cool completely
Lightly beat four eggs, then add to the apple with the juice and zest of a lemon (I only used half a lemon as it was quite juicy), and 2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs
Stir in 2 tablespoons of white sugar, or less or more to taste, then pour the mixture into a pie dish
Cover the dish with shortcrust pastry, brush on a little beaten egg, sprinkle with sugar and bake in a preheated oven (180°C) for approx. 30 minutes
Mrs Powell also supplied Emily with a recipe for Eve’s pudding, which I know as a layer of cooked apples beneath a sponge cake topping, sometimes garnished with slivered almonds. ‘Eve’, of course, refers to the Eve of the Garden of Eden – hence the link to apples. It’s easy to make and very tasty. But earlier versions of Eve’s pudding were made with suet and steamed in a pudding bowl, resembling a Christmas pudding. Mary Eaton included a recipe for Eve’s pudding in her book The cook and housekeeper’s complete and universal dictionary, published in 1823 – so within Emily’s era.
Here is Mrs Powell’s recipe, which, in fact, does not include suet:
Eve’s pudding /Ditto [ie Mrs Powell]
6 eggs, 6 apples peeled & chopped fine, 6 oz of crumbs of bread grated very fine, 6 oz of currants well picked, 6 oz of sugar, a little nutmeg & cinnamon, let it boil full 3 hours very slowly – wine & butter sauce
I think this sounds delicious too (wine and butter sauce anyone?!) and perhaps more appetising than a suet pudding - I’m tempted to try this one!
A laden apple tree in Somerset in September 2025 – but I doubt the scene was much different in 1825!
The eggy/apple mixture. To be authentic, I used an actual teacup for measuring the breadcrumbs!
Mrs' Powell’s baked apple pudding