Lemon sponge pudding

This is one of the coolest desserts I’ve made yet. For one thing, it’s a pudding – I adore pudding. For another, it appears to be much more complex than it actually is. You mix up the batter, pour it into ramekins or bowls, and as it cooks, it separates. A light, airy crust forms above a rich and creamy pudding. I got the recipe from a fantastic book, How to Read a French Fry, by Russ Parsons. I inadvertently changed it and forgot to add the last egg white, but it still turned out well. I did almost everything else according to the recipe, except I used chocolate almond milk instead of regular and I substituted margarine for the butter. My lemons were organic and fresh from my backyard. I think they were actually a bit strong compared to the lemons you would normally buy in the store, so their flavor was quite powerful. I enjoyed it; if you are more sensitive cut down on the lemon juice content.

Ingredients
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (I used chocolate unsweetened almond breeze)
3 large eggs, separated
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter, melted (I used margarine)
1 large egg white (I accidentally forgot to add this)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter 2 3-cup molds or 8 1/2-cup ramekins.
2. Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the milk, egg yolks, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Then stir in the melted butter.
4. In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they form peaks (but not too dry!). Gently fold into the batter.
5. Pour into your molds; place in a large baking pan. Pour in very hot water about an inch high. Bake until the top is just browned; about 35 minutes for the big molds or 20 for the ramekins. Serve hot or at room temperature.

I baked mine in bowls with water in them – I couldn’t find a baking pan.

The pudding is underneath this light, bready crust. It’s really incredible how the two separate out while cooking. I’ve had something similar happen once before, though – when I made my “light” Dutch babies, the egg whites sank below a lighter crust. There is so much to learn about the science of cooking and I hope to take some classes on it some day 🙂