baked pumpkin pudding.

Here in Singapore, canned pumpkin is like a 20C weather. Extremely extremely rare. So you can probably imagine how I pounced on a can of Libby's in the supermarket when I saw it. There was only one left! How lucky was I? 


This one can of pumpkin I have now is so precious, and I want to make the best of it. Pumpkin muffins with cream cheese filling, pumpkin whoopie pies and this, pumpkin pudding. Drizzled, well, more like dolloped, with the salted caramel  sauce I'd made earlier on and garnished with toasted pecans, currently my favourite nut. That one lonely half is just for show. Really, I piled them on after picture-taking.

The recipe is from the back of the pumpkin can. I cut down on the sugar and omitted all the spices except cinnamon and added vanilla too. I'll leave the full package of spices for my pumpkin cupcakes and whoopie pies! I think I could have baked this a little longer. Although it was set and nearly not jiggly at all once out of the oven, I still found it too much like just a puree. Or perhaps I should skip the water bath.


Baked Pumpkin Pudding adapted from the back of Libby's
serves 1
Ingredients:
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
4 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp vanilla
2/3 egg
pinch of salt
1/3 cup evaporated milk


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 160C or 325F.


Combine everything except the evaporated milk in a bowl. 


Heat the evaporated milk in a saucepan until before it starts to boil. Stir in the hot evaporated milk bit by bit into the pumpkin mixture. When all the milk has been added, pour the everything back into the saucepan and cook until the smell of the cinnamon is strong. You decide when to stop cooking. (The theory here is to concentrate the flavours. This step can be omitted if you wish.) 


Pour the mixture into a ramekin. Place it in a bigger tray which can hold enough water to be filled up to half the ramekin's height. Pour the hot water into the tray and bake for 20 minutes. (I found that it was too wet for me so you could increase the baking time until you are satisfied with the texture. This can be checked by inserting a toothpick into the middle of the pudding.)


Chill before serving.

It's not very rich because of the evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. That means you can eat it for breakfast! You know, pumpkins are high in fiber...