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 16th 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!
