Crabapple pudding

This evolved from an recipe for a Cherry Pudding.

This recipe works with any fruit that is on the sour side. I’ve tried it with sour cherry, apricot, rhubarb, cranberry, and crabapple.  Pitting cherries is a pain. Pitting apricots is the easiest. Coring crabapples is somewhere in between.  Crabapples are free and it feels better than throwing them away.

The crabapples:

Core crabapples leaving the skin on and just cutting four sides.  Put the crabapples in a pot, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon to draw out the liquid. Let this happen while you core the crabapples.  Add enough sugar to draw out the liquid. You can add more sugar after cooking to suit your taste. Cover and cook until liquid comes to a slow boil but stop before it completely turns into soup.

The cake base:  mix

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour into a baking dish (10 x 10). Pour the crabapples, > 2.5 cups or as much as you like, over the cake base.  Bake at 350°F for 45~55 min.

Variations: Milk (coconut milk, yogurt, half and half) Flour (whole wheat) Fruit (sour cherry, rhubarb, cranberry, apricot, crabapple)

These crabapples make a wonderful crisp.