Jam Steamed Pudding

There are a lot of things we can learn from our kids.  A WORLD of lessons. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how they are motivated by so many of the same things adults are.  Yet, they lack the self-consciousness to hide their desires, what makes them happy, or the gravity felt over small, everyday disappointments. This can teach us a lot about how we interact with all of the people in our lives, big and small.

On birthdays while we eat cake, we talk about the ways in which the birthday boy or girl grew that year.  Each person at the table tells the birthday girl/boy something they like about them. Since Emmett’s birthday was at the end of February, his experience hearing all of the things his family members love about him is fresh.  And he reminds me all the time of how much he enjoyed hearing those things. Which, in turn, reminds me that I should spend a lot more time telling the people I care about it what I like about them. So that’s a late arrival to the New Year’s Resolution list.

Although I could do better in this regard, and I intend to, I already do one thing to express how I feel about my family and friends. I cook for them. This particular recipe, much loved by Paul and the kids, is just that sort of thing. It’s the taste equivalent of a warm hug. All comfort and simplicity.  

I’ve taken a recipe by Rachel Allen (also featured here and here) and adapted it to the pressure cooker so that’s it’s easy enough to whip up on a weeknight. Although, if I’m being honest, I never have the energy to make scratch desserts on a weeknight - which is probably not a bad thing.

Jam Steamed Pudding

Adapted from Rachel Allen’s book Bake, serves 10-12*

*I actually halved this recipe which feeds six adults or 4 adults and 3 littles

• 7 ounces of butter, room temp
• 7 ounces of sugar
• Zest of one lemon
• 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 9 ounces all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk (or milk with one teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice left on the counter for 15 minutes)
• 4 ounces of jam of your choice (Rachel uses raspberry, I used strawberry because that’s what the kids like best)

Prepare a heatproof container that fits into your pressure cooker by spraying with cooking spray. I used a glass pyrex bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and zest together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Add vanilla and eggs to the butter-sugar mixture one at at time until thoroughly combined.

Add dry ingredients to the egg-butter-sugar mixture until just combined.

Gently stir in buttermilk.

Add jam to the bottom of your prepared bowl.

Pour batter over jam (batter is very thick and stiff, this worried me, but it was all good, Rachel knows what she’s doing).

Fold a long piece of foil in thirds and place under your bowl.  This will serve as a handle for you to lift the pudding out of your pressure cooker when once it is done.

Place the steamer insert into your pressure cooker and pour 2-3 cups of boiling water into the bottom of the cooker.  

Using your foil handle, slowly lower the bowl into the cooker.

Close the lid, leaving the valve open, set the cooker to simmer and set a timer for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, close the valve on the cooker, and cook for 35 minutes at high pressure, letting the pressure reduce naturally at the end of cooking.

Once the pressure has gone down.  Open the lid of the cooker and carefully lift the pudding out, using your foil handles.

Allow pudding to rest about 10 minutes before inverting onto a plate.

Serve with generous lashings custard.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! 

What are you doing to celebrate? It's funny to me because growing up in Colorado, I don't remember St. Patrick's Day being a big deal like it is in Chicago.  But now, in our neighborhood, so many people host parties, there is a big parade and so many other Saint Patrick's related festivities.

Every year we go to a friends' party here on the Northwest side of Chicago.  It's always a big event with trolleys that take you from the party site to the parade.  We haven't made it to the parade for the past few years because of the weather, nap schedules or both, but we intend to start going in the coming years.

We usually spend a little time in Long Grove checking out what Paddy's on the Square and the rest of the town have going on for the Holiday. Last weekend, they had live music at Paddy's which was incredible, but not topped by the 45 minutes spent arranging doorstops (pictured below). 

Then we go home and eat corned beef with cabbage, parsley sauce, brown bread and have a cup of tea with something sweet.  And without fail, every year, we vow to do a better job of wearing green to represent both our Irish heritage and the stores.  

This year, St. Patrick's day falls on a Saturday, so we are definitely going to be spending some time at the Irish Heritage Center's St. Patrick's Festival. I've already informed the kids that if they want to go, they have to help their dad and uncle, so we'll see how that goes. More information on the festival and the Heritage Center can be found here. 

In terms of St. Patrick's Day recipes, there are more than a few I'd like to try but here are some from around the web to keep in mind for next year's festivities:

Irish Coffee Cupcakes.  I would eat these any day, for any occasion. (My birthday is May 6th in case you have your calendar handy).

Pan Boxty.  These Irish potato cakes look delicious.  I would love these with eggs and bacon for breakfast.

Guinness-Glazed Lamb Chops.  Why didn't I think of this? These would make an incredible, and different St. Patrick's Day entree. Fancy too!

Shepherd's Pie from My Irish Table.  I've cooked from this beautiful book on a few occasions (posted about here) and just love it. This recipe might be next. 

Whatever you are eating, I hope it's delicious and that you all have a fun, happy, and safe St. Patrick's Day weekend. 

Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake with Super Simple Chocolate Frosting, Ganache Glaze and Chips Ahoy Crunch

Boy am I glad that I was on maternity leave for both Isla and Emmett’s birthdays. Kids’ birthdays are no joke. I don’t feel like we celebrate more than the average family but when you are a little kid, birthdays are legitimately a BIG DEAL. And Emmett just turned five. FIVE! I can’t believe I’m the mother of a five year old. It really is bittersweet. I’m so proud of the little guy he is becoming but devastated that time is going by so fast.  

I’ve been letting the kids pick a birthday cake on Pinterest for me to recreate for their birthdays. I, of course, steer them away from the ones that are way out of my league in terms of difficulty. And thankfully, so far, so good. This year Emmett wanted a dinosaur cake.  He was so set on his plastic dinosaurs being part of it, he has been keeping them in the kitchen “cake” drawer ever since Christmas.  

The cake itself had to be chocolate.  I don’t feel like I’ve ever found a go-to chocolate cake, although the basic Hershey’s one is pretty close. But this cake may have changed all that. It was super tasty and very easy to make. I covered it in super simple chocolate frosting, a ganache glaze and chips ahoy crumbles.  Oh yeah, and dinosaurs. Even though there were a few steps involved, putting it all together was a breeze.  I’m pretty sure I could have pulled it off even if I was back at work - though I’m glad I didn’t have to.

I made the whole evening even easier on myself by making slow cooker corned beef with cabbage, carrots and potatoes for dinner.  You can find the recipe for that here.  I plated the corned beef and vegetables on a big platter and kept it warm in the oven until we were ready to eat. Perfect for a weeknight dinner.  Also, this allowed me to pay attention to the kids and get the low-down on Emmett’s big birthday at school instead of standing over the stove.

Emmett was pretty thrilled with his cake and his birthday in general. It was nice to see him so happy and excited. And most of all, grateful. He must have thanked me a hundred times for his cake, his dinner, his presents. I was super proud of my little man.

And the cake. The cake was awesome. Then again, it was covered in frosting, ganache and cookies. How could it not be? Paul said it tasted like Portillo’s chocolate cake.  Lest you think I would be offended, that is actually high praise around here. Portillo’s was our wedding cake and how we celebrated the birth of all of our children (there’s a Portillo’s directly across the street from Lutheran General Hospital).  No fancy cake for me. It’s Portillo’s all the way.

This cake would be great with no embellishments, just the cake and super simple frosting. Here’s how to do it with the ganache and cookie crumbles too.

Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake with Super Simple Chocolate Frosting, Ganache Glaze and Chips Ahoy Crunch

Make 1 Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake, just the cake part.  Recipe here.

I made ½ a recipe which worked perfectly in my 6” cake pans. I also made the cake ahead, wrapped each layer separately in saran wrap, then foil and froze them until the big day.

Make one batch of Super Simple Chocolate Frosting. Recipe here.

Again, I made ½ batch, enough to fill and frost my 6” cake.

Place about 16 (or 8 for a 6” cake) chips ahoy cookies in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.

When ready to assemble the cake. Place one cake layer on a plate, lazy susan or turntable, removing any dome off the top with a serrated knife. Repeat with the second layer.

Slather about 1 cup (½ cup for a 6” cake) of frosting in the center of the first layer and place the second layer on top.  

Now, crumb coat your cake by covering the top and sides with a very, very thin layer of frosting all over to seal in the crumbs.

Place cake in refrigerator for about 20 minutes for crumb coat to set.  

Remove cake from fridge, frost top and sides and place back in the fridge to set.

Meanwhile, make ganache. For a full-size cake (halve these amounts for a 6” cake), heat 4 oz heavy cream in a microwave of over a stovetop until simmering. Stir 4 ½ oz dark chocolate pieces (I used chopped baking chocolate) into cream and whisk until completely melted and ganache is shiny and smooth. Allow to cool to room temp.

Once ganache has cooled slightly but is still pourable consistency, take cake out of fridge and pour ganache on top, nudging some over the sides with a spatula for the drippy effect.

Coat with cookie crumbs and top with dinos. Viola!