A good home for a couple of spare apples – gingerbread pudding!

Apple gingerbread pudding

Two bramley apples had been languishing in the fruit bowl for a couple of weeks. This was their destiny – a fruity, sticky, warm and spicy pudding.

As is the risk with any dish made off the cuff, this didn’t turn out exactly how I envisaged. I anticipated a layer of cooked apple topped with a layer of sticky ginger sponge. However, the batter was such that the pieces of apple floated to the top whilst baking so I ended up with apple pieces throughout rather than the layered effect. Nevertheless, the end result was just what we were after.

 Set the oven to 160C. Peel and chop 2 medium sized bramley apples into bite size pieces and place in the bottom of a 20cm square baking dish. Then make the batter. In a medium pan melt 75g butter with 100g dark brown sugar and 130g golden syrup. Once melted together add 250ml dark ale, 150g plain flour, 2 tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp baking soda. This will thicken and needs a good stir to get any flour lumps out. Finally add 1 egg and 120ml plain yogurt or sour cream. If you have some available, some finely chopped stem ginger would also work a treat. Pour over the apples and bake for about an hour, having a look after 45 mins, using a skewer or similar to check the middle for uncooked batter. This hot and spicy pudding would be excellent with some cool, creamy vanilla ice cream.