Low-Fat Cranberry Pudding w.Yogurt Dessert Sauce
Simplify a Festive Holiday Cranberry Pudding by Baking, Not Steaming
Oct 9, 2009
This is a healthy, low-fat version of a classic Dickens-style holiday pudding (though it’s good anytime). It blends all the flavors of the season—cranberries, walnuts, orange, and ginger. And it’s much easier to prepare than a classic pudding. There’s no need for pudding molds or standing over a steaming kettle for hours keeping the water at just the right simmer.
Water Bath or Bain Marie
The secret to imitating a steamed pudding is to use a common baking technique—a water bath or, to use the classic culinary term, a bain marie. This simply means to put the baking dish into a larger outer pan, which is then filled with hot water that reaches halfway up the surface of the baking dishes. Often used for puddings, cheesecakes, and custards, the water acts as a barrier to direct heat, allowing the food to bake gently and evenly throughout.
Keeping the Cranberry Pudding Low-Fat and Healthy
The first secret to keeping the pudding low-fat is using the water bath. Because this process keeps the pudding moist and doesn't bake off any flavor, it's easier to eliminate the fat that would be required in the direct baking technique used for muffins and cakes. In fact, the only fat in the pudding is from one egg and the nuts.
The second secret is to replace the hard sauce traditionally served with puddings with a healthier alternative. Hard sauce is made largely from butter and sugar flavored with rum or brandy; the dessert sauce offered here replaces both with yogurt. Feel free to use full- or low-fat yogurt; however, it's essentially that the yogurt be creamy style. Brown Cow is a good brand.
Baked Cranberry Pudding with Walnuts and Yogurt Dessert Sauce
Serves 6
Ingredients for Pudding
- 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 2 cups cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 Tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger (use crystallized ginger chips and chop more finely)
Ingredients for Dessert Topping:
- 4 Tablespoons Vanilla- or Maple-Flavored Yogurt
- 2 teaspoons rum or brandy (optional)
- 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put a large kettle full of water on to boil. Grease and flour six individual ramekins or custard dishes. Have a shallow baking dish available that can hold all the ramekins, (a pyrex 13 x 9” baking dish works well).
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a second bowl, whisk the orange juice and egg together.
- Add the juice mixture to the dry ingredients, stir until they are just combined. Fold in the nuts and ginger.
- Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, divide the batter among the prepared ramekins.
- Put the ramekins in the baking dish. Place the dish in the oven. Carefully, pour the water from the kettle into the baking dish until the water reaches half way up the sides of the ramekins (do not splash any water into the ramekins). Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the ramekin comes out almost clean, with a few crumbs still clinging, about one hour. Remove the ramekins from the baking dish (tongs are excellent for this purpose) and let cool on a wire rack.
- Prepare the topping by whisking the rum and yogurt together.
- To serve—either serve in the ramekin with a dollop of the topping or take a clean knife around the edge of the ramekin to unmold onto a dessert plate. Top the pudding with a tablespoon of yogurt and sprinkle a few crystallized ginger chips on top.
