I was recently browsing through a hundred-year-old magazine, and came across a recipe for Canned Peach Pudding. Back then fresh fruit was scarce during the winter and early spring, so canned fruit was very popular. At the time, canned fruit (either home or commercially canned) was considered a modern option.
The Canned Peach Pudding was delightful. The pudding batter included pureed peaches, and whole peach halves (filled with a red jelly or strawberry jam) are placed in the batter and then additional batter is poured on top.
Here’s the original recipe:
When I put the baked pudding with the sugar on top under the broiler, the sugar did not brown, but the top of the pudding did begin to brown.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Canned Peach Pudding
12 canned peach halves (approximately 1 29 oz. can + 1 15 oz. can or 1 quart home canned peaches)
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
6 teaspoons red jelly or strawberry jam (I used current jelly.)
granulated sugar
Preheat oven to 350° F. Puree 6 of the peach halves. In a mixing bowl combine the peach puree, milk, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, and melted butter. Put half of the batter into an 8″ X 8″ baking dish. Arrange 6 peach halves, hollow side up, on top of the batter. Fill the center of each peach half with 1 teaspoon of red jelly or strawberry jam. Pour the remaining better on top. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and lightly sprinkle with granulated sugar. Put under the broiler until the top of the baked pudding is lightly browned. Remove from oven.
This sounds splendid Sheryl! I will definitely give it a try. I love canned peaches as long as they are not packed in that really thick syrup.
I think that you’ll like it. I used the kind of canned peaches that were packed in 100% juice.
Delicious! I wonder what the difference between a pudding and a cobbler is….
hmmm. . . I’m not sure. I just googled it and didn’t find an answer, though I found several articles that explored the differences between crisps, cobbler, crumbles, buckles, and a few other things:
The Difference Between Popular Fruit Desserts
Cobblers, Crisps, and Crumbles: What’s the Difference?
As a child, I didn’t really like the store-bought canned fruit we sometimes had for dessert. This would have been a great option!
This recipe is a nice way to use canned fruit.
I enjoyed reading this. I have my mother’s recipe, which is much simpler. This one is more elegant.
Simple is good. I hadn’t thought about it until you mentioned it, but you’re right, this recipe is probably more complex than necessary in an attempt to make an elegant dessert.
This is similar to mom’s peach cobbler recipe–I just made one a week ago. It was a gooey cobbler. The peaches were sliced, or chunks, and poured on top of the batter which in cooking, would bubble up around the peaches. It looked just like this, and they are delicious!
Your mother’s recipe sounds wonderful – though I won’t exactly describe this recipe as a “gooey” dessert. I think that I’d decribe it as cake-like.
Maybe gooey is not the right word–it was very moist and dough-y, not as firm as a cake, but definitely juicier than a regular pie crust cobbler. It may have been called something else in earlier times, but she and my grandmother just called it cobbler. It was somewhat similar to my grandmother’s bread pudding, only more moist.
Maybe this recipe is similar to your mother’s peach cobbler. It is very moist.