Preschoolers Like Indian Pudding!

Happy Thanksgiving! The day for thanks and feasting has arrived. This year I get to enjoy the holiday with my fiancé, Michael, and his family. Then comes a drive to Missouri for another holiday feast tomorrow. For this foodie, these two days are a celebration of the traditional dishes that tend to show up only on Thanksgiving.  

Earlier this week, the preschoolers at Discovery Montessori School, where I teach part time, had their own holiday feast. Actually, it was more like a tasting. They got to try some of the foods that may have been served at the first Thanksgiving—wild turkey, venison meatloaf, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, popcorn, pumpkin pie, and cranberries (both the berry and Craisins—you should have seen the faces of those brave enough to bite into a raw cranberry!)

My contribution to the feast was Indian Pudding. This dish is a New England tradition. According to the Plimoth Plantation food blog, the recipe first shows up in cookbooks in 1796, but historians believe it was served for many years before.

My recipe comes from my friend, Kathy, in New Hampshire. She would serve it at our neighborhood Thanksgiving feast on Wyman Street in Hillsborough.

My preschoolers loved it! To tempt them to try it, I put a little whipped cream on top. I also had them smell it—the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg aroma was too alluring to pass up. (Kathy likes to serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. I like it that way, too!)

Here’s the recipe. It does take a long time to cook, so for a slow cooker version, check out the Plimoth Plantation’s food blog here.

Kathy’s Baked Indian Pudding

Serves 6 to 8

4 cups milk

5 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon each of ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup cream

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a sauce pan, bring 3 cups of the milk to a boil. Mix 1 cup of cold milk with the cornmeal and stir slowly into the hot milk. Cook on low for 20 minutes, stirring often.

Add butter, sugar and molasses. Remove from the heat and add salt and spices. Stir in eggs.

Pour into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 2 to 2 1/2 hours [mine only took 2 hours], stirring occasionally during the first hour. [I stirred it every 15 minutes.] After 1 hour, pour cream over the top and finish baking without stirring. Served warm topped with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.