One of my prized possessions is my Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook. It was my grandma’s, and then it was my mom’s, and now it’s mine, and it holds an esteemed place of honor in my kitchen. (Highest shelf, top right, next to a portrait of Julia Child.) It’s the ninth printing of the 1950 edition and definitely shows some wear and tear but that’s just because it’s been well-loved and well-used — those tatters are well-earned. Our copy opens right to the cookie page because my family has made cookies from it so many times throughout the decades but I got to thinking… why haven’t I made much else from here?
It was time to change that. There are so many vintage gems in this book — and so many that my grandmother probably loved — that I felt like I should probably take some time to discover them. So I’m taking you along with me for the great Betty Crocker Cookbook Cookthrough. And today we’re working on the Desserts chapter!
The Desserts chapter is divided into different sections and today we’re entrenched in the “Puddings” section, which is not a bad place to be. The tagline at the top of the page says “Where puddings and sauce bake in the same dish” which would indicate that these are all self-saucing puddings. If you haven’t had a self-saucing bake like this before, you’re in for a treat! The dish naturally separates as it bakes so you have a saucy, delicious layer that you can spoon over everything, but also a soft and tender cake layer.
And Betty gives you the option to make one of these self-saucing puddings in any flavor you’d like. Today, we chose lemon, but you could also go with lime, orange, pineapple, or hot fudge. (I’ve tried the hot fudge before and it’s great.) I love this feature of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook — most pages have a central key recipe, but then there are flavor variations you can make on it below that. It’s like a ‘choose your own adventure’ but for cooking.
So how do you make a self-saucing pudding?
It’s easy. Betty has you sift together flour, sugar, and salt and then stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, and some egg yolks and milk. You beat egg whites separately until you’ve got stiff peaks and then you fold them into the mixture. Simple.
The cookbook suggests you can either bake this in small custard cups or a larger casserole dish; I went with the latter. The recipe calls for baking it in a water bath, which just means that you set it in a larger pan in the oven and fill that larger pan with about an inch of water. It makes for a gentler baking experience for the pudding.
When it’s done (after 45 to 60 minutes), you can serve it right away or wait and serve it cold. I tried it right away, topped only with a little powdered sugar and I LOVED it. The pudding layer is so soft and tender, almost like a cloud, and the sauce layer reminds of a thinner lemon curd. It had so much bright, lemon flavor. This is absolutely one I will make again! (And again.)
Fun fact: Did you know that Betty Crocker isn’t (and never was) a real person? She was actually just a promotional character created by General Mills to give consumers a personality to connect with. And that strategy sure seems to have worked!
