In honor of Bernie and Vermont: Victory may be fleeting but it sure is sweet
This was originally called Poor Man's Pudding or Working Man's Pudding. It's Quebecois in origin, but popular in Vermont, Northern NH and Maine, where there have traditionally been a lot of people of French-Canadian origin. Originally it was made with maple syrup but as that hasn't been a product that poor people can afford for a long time, there are a lot of good recipes where brown sugar forms the basis of the syrup used. In Quebecois it's known as Pouding Chomeur. Made with either Brown sugar or maple syrup, it's addictively delicious and wicked sweet. Serve with unsweetened whipped cream.
This is my favorite recipe for Pouding Chomeur:
1 1/3 cups dark amber maple syrup
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (5 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch of mace
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly butter an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish. Line the bottom of the dish with a piece of parchment paper and butter the paper. In a medium saucepan, boil the maple syrup over moderate heat until reduced to 1 cup, about 6 minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat, whisk in 3 tablespoons of the butter, then pour into the prepared baking dish.
In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder, salt and mace. In another small bowl, whisk the whole egg and egg yolk with the buttermilk and vanilla. In a large bowl, beat the remaining stick of butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients in 2 batches, alternating with the liquid ingredients; beat until the batter is smooth.
Evenly dollop heaping tablespoons of the batter on top of the maple syrup. Bake the pudding for 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
Recipe using brown sugar
http://www.food.com/recipe/poor-mans-pudding-cake-pouding-chomeur-55324
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