This recipe brings back wonderful memories of my grandma who would serve this every winter when we would visit. It is a recipe we have of hers that was clipped out of a newspaper sometime last century. I really have to say it is one of my favorite desserts of all time! It's called a pudding, meaning dessert, and is a spiced apple cake FULL of fresh apple, then topped with the most amazing lemon butter sauce you can imagine. Once people try this, they always want the recipe.
Grandma's Baked Apple Pudding
Serves 9
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup gluten free 1:1 flour (I use Bob's Red Mill 1:1)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and grated (or 1 cup applesauce)
1/2 chopped pecans, if desired
Lemon Sauce:
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup butter
Dash of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon juice
In a mixing bowl, beat until fluffy the butter and sugar. Add the egg and beat. Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg), and add to the mixing bowl; mix thoroughly. Stir in the apples and nuts, if desired. Spoon into a greased 9-inch square baking dish. Bake at 350⁰F for 40 minutes, or until center is done.
For lemon sauce, in a saucepan, whisk together water, butter, salt, sugar, and cornstarch; bring to a boil. Boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla and lemon juice. Serve warm poured over apple pudding.
Step-by-step tutorial:
Gather your ingredients. You will need butter, sugar, an egg, gluten free flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, fresh nutmeg to grind, and two large fresh apples. The recipe says you can substitute a cup of applesauce, but I thinks it's absolutely worth the extra effort of doing fresh apples.
One thing I changed from the newspaper recipe was using butter instead of shortening. Butter just adds a better flavor, but you are welcome to use shortening if you prefer. In a mixing bowl, beat 1/4 cup softened butter and 1 cup of sugar until fluffy, then add the egg and beat well. In a separate bowl, whisk together 1 cup GF flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg. It doesn't have to be freshly ground, but once you try it, you can't go back!
Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat well. It will be thick, almost like a cookie dough. Next, prepare your apples. I cut my apples four times around the core with a large kitchen knife.
Then using a potato peeler, peel the skin off the apples, then grate the apples using a cheese grater. Add the apples to the mixer and slowly beat in. The moisture from the apples breaks up the thicker batter and it becomes more like a thick cake batter.
Spread into a greased 9-inch baking dish. Bake at 350⁰F for about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, you can make the most amazing lemon sauce ever! The ingredients you need for the sauce are cold water (so the cornstarch will dissolve), cornstarch, butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice.
In a saucepan, whisk together 1 cup cold water, 1/2 sugar, dash of salt, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add butter and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. It will start to thicken. Remove from the heat and add 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons lemon juice.
This lemon sauce is the perfect compliment to the apple pudding. Serve it warm.
The apple pudding is done when it is golden brown and the center is set. It's a beautiful cake!
I can't think of a better winter dessert that is more cozy and yummy.
Cut the cake into squares. Look at all those apple pieces!
Drizzle with warm lemon sauce. You'll want to keep the sauce close by to pour more on later......trust me. You are going to love this sauce!
My grandma added chopped pecans or walnuts, as well as raisins. You can definitely do that if your family would love it. I don't have any other raisin fans besides myself, so in order to get my raisins, I have my own box of raisin bran. Haha.
That first bite will hook you! Baked Apple Pudding is going to become a favorite at your house too. Thanks Grandma.
Recipe Source: Recipe from my sweet Grandma Carol Preece, who I miss dearly
Comments