Feast Day Food: Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding for St. Edmund Campion

Today is the historical feast of St. Edmund Campion.  While he may no longer be officially celebrated in the U.S., I am a professed Anglophile and couldn’t help adding in his feast day to our celebration rotation.

St. Edmund lived during the protestant reformation in England and served as a priest to the underground Catholic church for many years before we was finally caught and martyred.  I have such respect for a man who risked death to bring sacraments to the faithful and to keep the church going in such times.

I always try to make some sort of snack or dessert for feast days but couldn’t seem to find much for St. Edmund.  Inspiration hit, and I decided to make figgy pudding, a dessert both liturgically and seasonally appropriate.  It originates in 16^th century England, so may have been around at the time of St. Edmund.  I wasn’t too keen to try the “traditional” versions of figgy pudding that can be both time consuming, and a bit repellent to a modern american palette.  I managed to dig up a few modern interpretations that caught my eye.

(Figgy) Pudding Cookies @ The Actor’s Diet

Figgy Pudding Butter Cookies @ Food 52

Figgy Cobbler @ Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen

Simple Traditional Figgy Pudding @ Food Viva

Figgy Pudding Smoothie @ The Blooming Platter (Vegan but can easily adapt to non-vegan)

Figgy Pudding Baked Oatmeal @ Foodtastic Mom

The version I made is adapted from the Figgy Pudding at Gourmet Mom On-the-Go and is more a muffin or dense cake than a "pudding".

Kid Friendly Figgy Pudding

6T butter, softened, whipped
3/4 c molasses
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk (or 3/4c milk w/ lemon juice mixed in to make 1c)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
zest from 1 lemon
2 c all purpose flour
1 c dried figs, stems removed and chopped finely
1/4 c dates, chopped finely

Add molasses, eggs, and buttermilk to the whipped butter, mixing well in between each addition.  Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Add dried fruit and mix well.  Pour into your baking pan of choice and bake in a 325 degree oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

My 5 ramekins took about 40 minutes.  I'm assuming muffin pans would cut the time by quite a bit.

Serve with whipped cream and enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

St. Edmund Campion Coloring Page

Catholic priest during the protestant reign of Queen Elizabeth in a newly protestant England.  He served the secret English Catholic church, refusing to apostatize and eventually being martyred for it.  Read more about him at Catholic Culture.

Download Coloring Page

Thanks for reading!