Recipes: Hot treats are pudding on the style

CHOOSING the right thing to eat isn't always a straightforward business.

While we all should be making an effort to eat healthily, sometimes it's just as necessary for the food you eat to satisfy emotional demands as much as your nutritional ones.

There are stressful times in everyone's life when diet and lifestyle issues need to be placed on one side to make way for the heart-warming security of familiar comfort food.

Shepherd's pie, bangers and mash or macaroni cheese; everyone has their own uncomplicated dishes that can cheer you up by evoking happy childhood memories, but when it comes to food surely nothing puts smiles on faces more than a delicious hot pudding.

Skip to the back of one of your grandmother's cookbooks and you'll find all those baked and steamed dessert recipes that often date back decades, if not centuries.

Granny might be pleasantly surprised to find that many of her staple dessert dishes from yesteryear appear on fashionable bistro and gastropub menus today, as the trend for reviving traditional dishes that use cheaper ingredients gathers pace.

These also tend to be dishes with long shelf lives that can be made in large batches, ideal for busy restaurants with small kitchens.

Bread and butter pudding is one of those famous British baked desserts that would appear to be cool again either in its classic version or modified for a new generation with the addition of nuts, chocolate, alcohol, or fruit such as banana or fresh berries.

Have a rake through your kitchen cupboard and see what twists and variations you can come up with. If you're using up yesterday's bread, you'll find it's a dish that's going to cost you just pennies to put together, which is good news for your weekly food budget.

With rhubarb starting to appear in the shops, it's the perfect time to be thinking about another proven culinary anti-depressant, apple and rhubarb crumble. Who doesn't love that combination of sweet and tart flavours moistened with lots of runny custard?

Sticky toffee pudding is a hot dessert that's never really been off restaurant menus thanks to its "oh-all right-then" ability in persuading customers (usually men) to order a pudding when they hadn't intended to. Hot marmalade pudding is less well-known but does a similar job in cheering you up.

Everyone will remember a special hot pudding that their mother no doubt perfected to combat the effects of scraped knees and bloodied noses. Whether your particular favourite was rice pudding and cream, hot pecan pie, warm pancakes with bananas and syrup or practically anything warm and chocolaty, there are countless other hot dessert ideas that can still help to chase away the blues – until it's time to start counting the calories again.

Andy McGregor is chef/proprietor at Blonde Restaurant, 75 St Leonard's Street, 0131 668 2917

RECIPES

Hot marmalade pudding with cinnamon custard

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

750g marmalade

250g butter

300g brown breadcrumbs

200g light brown sugar

75g plain flour

50g sesame seeds

zest from 2 oranges, chopped

1 level dessert spoon ground ginger

2 level dessert spoons baking powder

6 eggs, whisked

For the custard:

350 ml double cream

100g caster sugar

4 egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp cornflour

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160C.

Melt the butter in a pot with the marmalade, orange zest and ginger until you have a smooth syrup. In a large mixing bowl combine the breadcrumbs, flour, sesame seeds, sugar and baking powder. Whisk in the marmalade mixture then the eggs.

Pour into a greased and lined baking tin and cover with tinfoil. Place the tin inside a larger container and half fill with water. Bake in the oven for 2.5-3 hours, until firm in the middle.

Warm the cream in a saucepan until just starting to boil then remove from the heat. In a mixing bowl whisk the sugar, egg yolks, cinnamon and cornflour until you have a light, creamy paste, then slowly whisk in the cream. Return to the saucepan, add the vanilla and heat gently until thickened.

Chocolate and banana bread and butter pudding

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

500g sliced white bread, crusts removed

200g unsalted butter, softened

5 bananas, peeled and chopped

150g dark chocolate, grated

5 eggs

200g brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp cinnamon

250ml milk

400ml double cream

200g caster sugar

100ml clear honey

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 160C.

Put the bananas in a food processor along with half of the caster sugar and blend until you have a smooth paste. Warm the chocolate with 150ml of the cream over a low heat until the chocolate has melted.

Butter the bread slices and place one layer along the bottom of a rectangular baking dish.

Sprinkle with brown sugar, spoon over some of the banana paste then pour some of the chocolate sauce on top. Repeat with each layer until the bread, banana, chocolate and brown sugar is used up. Pour the honey over the top.

In a mixing bowl whisk the eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and the remaining caster sugar and cream, then pour evenly over the bread pudding. Allow to soak for 30-45 mins, cover with tinfoil and bake for 45 mins until risen. Serve with custard or pouring cream.