Cranberry-Maple Pudding Cake

Just because the holidays are over doesn't mean that it's time to give up cranberries!

I was browsing the January edition of bon appétit (yeah, it's really lower case now) and spotted a lovely and simple "cranberry-maple pudding cake". One of my favorite fruits, plus maple syrup? How could I resist? So when our friend M offered to come over and cook us this lovely lentil soup from 101 Cookbooks, I knew what dessert I wanted to try. Joe whipped up a batch of maple-walnut ice cream from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Cookbook to pair with it.

It cooks up quickly. The bread topping is a mix of flour and cornmeal, which is a great combo for creating a moist bread with some depth of flavor and crisp edges. (I use some cornmeal in my wheat pancakes for the same reason.) As it cooks, the biscuit-like topping absorbs the liquid, creating a rich moist bread pudding on top of a layer of cranberries. Joe's maple-walnut ice cream was a great match for it.

All three of us agreed that the basic recipe just didn't quite suit our tastes. It was too sweet, and the flavor a little too... one dimensional, and we wanted more cranberries. So I tweaked the recipe last night — a touch less maple syrup, a touch more salt, added some cinnamon, and more cranberries — and gave it another try. There may be more tweaking yet to do, but I think this is a good start.

Cranberry-Maple Pudding Bread
based on a recipe from the January 2008 issue of bon appetit.

Cranberries
3 C fresh cranberries
3/4 C real maple syrup (preferably Grade B, or Grade A dark amber; slightly stronger flavor that way)
2/3 C heavy whipping cream
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I may up it to a full teaspoon next time)

Topping
2/3 C all purpose flour
1/3 C yellow cornmeal
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 C whole milk
1/2 C melted unsalted butter (1 stick or 4 oz.), cooled a bit
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix cranberries, maple syrup, whipping cream, the 1/4 tsp salt, and cinnamon in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for a minute. (The cranberries may begin to pop, so watch out.) Remove from heat and pour into baking dish. I used a 10 inch pie dish, but it'd also fit into an 8x8x2-inch baking dish or an 11x7x2-inch dish.

Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg and sugar. Add milk, butter, and vanilla extract to the egg mixture. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to blend. Pour/drop (depending on batter thickness) batter over the cranberries.  Don't worry if you have gaps. The batter will expand to fill the dish.

Bake until golden and the cranberries bubble at the edges — about 28 minutes. Cool 15 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream (maple walnut is a really good choice as it turns out), whipped cream, or crème fraîche.