Grateful Pudding (and giveaway winners)

Don't you love the name of this pudding? It's almost worth making just to announce it to your Thanksgiving guests! My family really enjoys plum pudding after a turkey dinner, so they had quite a surprise when I served a light rather than dark steamed pudding last time. Fortunately, they were crazy about it. I have some of my grandmother's old pudding molds- but this is the shape I like best. And it just fits perfectly in my soup pot for steaming.
 

This holiday pudding is a Martha Stewart recipe from her old cookbook Entertaining. An amazingly simple recipe (although you have to prepare the fruit by soaking overnight) and it's done in about an hour. I kind of like the traditional idea of a steamed pudding for Thanksgiving. Martha suggests using her sour lemon sauce and it's excellent with this pudding. Everyone enjoyed the tart lemon flavor (especially my dad) of this sauce. But you could make my mother's caramel brandy sauce- which would be good too-that recipe is HERE.

Grateful Pudding
From Martha Stewart's Entertaining

 

Ingredients:
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup muscat raisins
1/4 cup cognac
6 cups white bread, crusts removed, cut into 1/2 in squares (I used challah)
3 cups whipping cream
1 vanilla bean
6 eggs
1 lemon
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon mace

For the lemon sauce:
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
dash salt
1 1/4 cups hot water
3 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
3 Tablespoons grated lemon rind


Method:
Grate the rind of one lemon and soak the raisins with the cognac and the rind overnight. Drain.
Butter and sprinkle with sugar a 2 qt. covered mold including the inside of the lid.
Layer the bread alternating with the raisins. Scald the cream with the vanilla bean and cool slightly. Remove bean, scrape out the seeds and put back in the milk. Beat eggs and sugar until light and gradually pour in the cream. Add the mace and pour over the bread.
Secure lid and steam for 1 hour on a rack in a covered kettle with water 2/3 up the side of the mold.
Unmold pudding carefully and serve with sauce. Serves 8-10. You don't need big servings...this is quite rich.

Method for the lemon sauce:
Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt in a double boiler. Add hot water and cook 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Add butter, lemon juice and rind. Cook a little longer.


And here are the lucky Cookbook Giveaway Winners. I used the random number generator to pick  four and then if possible, tried to give you the cookbooks you requested.

Then first winner is Donna from My Tasty Treasures . She won the Rose Levy Beranbaum cookie cookbook.

The second winner is Dana from The Kitchen Witch. She won Maida Heatter's Chocolate cookbook.

The third winner is Lea Ann from Mangos Chili and Z.    She won Dorie's book.

 The final winner is Susan from Schnitzel and the Trout.   She won Nigella's book.

Congratulations to all of you! Please email your mailing information to bsmithw@gmail.com so I can mail your cookbook out ASAP!