If you’ve had our Tennessee Peach Pudding before, then you know you’re in for a treat with this autumnal version. It’s the same basic concept – a simple cakey fruit-studded self-saucing baked pudding – but in this one there are sweet, tender pears in a cinnamon and nutmeg spiced filling with a buttery caramel sauce that bubbles up around it. (In other words, it’s totally and absolutely delicious.)
Here’s how it works.
You peel and chop some pears…
And fold them into a batter of some usual baking suspects – flour, sugar, baking powder, milk – and some vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg for good measure. You spread that into a baking dish…
And mix together some brown sugar and butter with some boiling water until everything has come together in a nice caramelly sauce. You pour that over the top…
And as it bakes, the filling and the topping kind of mingle together, so the caramel sauce surrounds everything in sweet, buttery richness.
Yeah.
A little ice cream wouldn’t be amiss. But you don’t need it.
Not with that sticky sweet sauce hanging around those tender, spiced pears. That’s all you’ll ever need.
Caramel Pear Pudding
Ingredients
- For the filling:
- 5 cups pears, peeled and chopped
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the caramel topping:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3/4 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, chopped
- Whipped cream or ice cream, for serving
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Whisk in milk and vanilla extract until well combined, then fold in chopped pears. Pour filling into prepared dish.
- In a small bowl, mix together boiling water, brown sugar, and butter until butter has fully melted and sugar has dissolved. Pour evenly over filling and bake until cooked through, 50-55 minutes. (If pudding is browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil.)
- Let cool 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!