Almost Healthy Dessert

It contains an entire carrot and an entire potato, though any potential health benefits are surely staved off by the half pound of butter. This falls in line with the black bun with its recent return to the Rowlands family holiday baking exploits.

I'll make this a quick one — since the recipe really doesn't require much in the way of preparation. The cooking time, however, is a bit of a stretch coming in at three hours. I'm to believe that a pudding mold is a reasonably essential tool in this endeavor, though I imagine some ingenuity with a bundt pan and aluminum foil might be sufficient. I don't own one of these things, even with my relatively high tolerance for obscure culinary paraphernalia. I'll spend the rest of the post assuming you've worked something out.

To completely ruin any illusions of healthfulness, this pudding should be doused with hard sauce — which is literally a paste of flour and confectioners sugar, though rum can make an appearance as the least worrisome ingredient.

Carrot Pudding

The Pudding

• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Cup Grated Raw Carrot (2 Medium)
• 1 Cup Grated Raw Potato (2 Smallish)
• 1/2 Cup Currants
• 1/2 Cup Raisins
• 1/2 Tsp each Nutmeg, Cinnamon, and Ground Cloves

The Sauce

• 1/2 Cup Soft Butter
• 1 1/2 Cup Sifted Confectioners Sugar
• 2 Tbs. Rum or Brandy

Fabrication

1. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl, then stir in the fruit until covered.
2. Add butter and raw vegetables, mixing until combined
3. Turn into greased pudding mold and steam for 3 hours.
4. Cream the butter and sugar together before incorporating the rum or brandy. The hard sauce must be stored in the fridge for it to reach its namesake consistency, though I suspect that the "hard" might refer to something else altogether.

NB: Best served warm. 1/2 Cup of nuts can be substituted for currants. Also allspice can be added, though it has been experimentally determined to add little additional flavor.