WHY I LOVE THIS RECIPE: As a child and a young person, I was always a charity guest. We were the poor relations invited to holiday feasts as an obligation. In my twenties, I was invited to parties at homes of young couples and treated as best they could to show an unmarried person how it was done. As the years passed and I began teaching, a circle of friends would have a lot of us over for evenings which were fun and excellently edible! I decided that I wanted to do something similar to them, so I spent weeks planning what, how, and when it would be. Having cooked since I was ten I knew what I would make and who would be invited. It would be the winter holidays and non-denominational.“Open house at Brian’s, December 23rd at 4pm, come and enjoy!” I roasted two turkeys with my mother’s stuffing, salad, a strawberry cream mold, various drinks and…? I was stuck on dessert! My friend Joan had been to New York City and came to my rescue. I was introduced to James Beard who is a prize winning chef, and he gifted me with the best holiday pudding ever! Having read it over twice, I was not sure if she was teasing me. “Potatoes, carrots, and what?” Although she assured me I would be pleased when I tried it. Carefully, I made a small one, and was surprised. The 23rd, I steamed a large pot, cooled it, and soaked it in brandy. It came out a deep brown and smelling terrific. The guests inhaled it, and wanted more! For the next thirty years, my open house was a success filled with good food, a lot of laughing, stories, and most importantly my famous holiday pudding seeming to have stepped out of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol!Since then, I have given the recipe away to many friends of all ages, even here at Handmaker!
Holiday Puddin
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated raw carrots
- 1 cup grated raw potatoes
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, or Splenda sugar substitute
- 1/2 lb melted butter or margarine
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- ice cream or whipped cream
- rum or brandy (optional)
Instructions
- Mix together the following ingredients in a large bowl: grated raw carrots, potatoes, flour, raisins and sugar or sugar substitute.
- Melt ½ pound of butter or margarine and add to the above mixture.
- In a small bowl, mix together the following ingredients: baking soda, ground cloves, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Add these to the large bowl and mix together.
- Use a double boiler, or create a double boiler by placing water in a larger pot and using a slightly smaller pot to place inside. Butter the inside pot and place the mixture of ingredients into it and cover with a very tight lid. Simmer over the water for 3 hours (no less!)
- Allow the mixture to cool a little then serve warm.
- As this is a dessert, serve with ice cream or whipped cream on top. Adults can also add rum or brandy over the mixture!
Notes
The Tracing Roots & Building Trees project paired teens from Tucson Hebrew High with residents of Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging to remember stories and favorite foods together. From this experience a cookbook, “L’dor v’dor: From Generation to Generation: Stories and Memories around Family and Food, was published.
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