A pudding can be sweet or savoury it’s now a celebration of sweet side

When I was young pudding was one of those magical words like Disney, Coca Cola and the beach that elicited simultaneous feelings of warmth and excitement. But never once then or until now did I question the etymology of the word.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word “pudding” dates to the thirteenth century. It refers to the entrails or stomach of a sheep, pig or other animal stuffed with meat, offal, suet, oatmeal and seasonings. It is believed to come from the French word boudin which derives from the Latin, meaning “small sausage”. A pudding can be either sweet or savoury but today it is definitely a celebration of the sweet side of things.

A pudding for me should be warm, may or may not have a fruity element, and always be served with cream, custard, ice cream or all three. But that’s only my opinion. One of my favourite puddings is a steamed sponge with hot jam on top.

In the first recipe dollops of jam are placed in pudding moulds (or use an oven proof coffee cup), topped with an orangey sponge and then covered with foil. Place them in a baking tray filled half way with boiling water and bake in the oven.

The puddings steam to fluffy perfection. Turn them out to reveal hot jammy loveliness and pour custard on top. The custard here has the addition of cinnamon which goes well with the fruit. I’ve included a recipe for homemade custard but feel free to open up a tin.

Hot chocolate is one of life’s reassuring things. In a drink it both warms and soothes and in a pudding it’s quite hard to beat.

The recipe here is for a hot chocolate caramel pudding. The caramel part isn’t complicated – just stick a sweet into the middle of the batter. When it bakes the caramel sweet melts and gives you an oozing centre. I’ve included a recipe for homemade chocolate ice cream that’s simple and is essentially whipped cream with condensed milk and some melted chocolate added – no specialist equipment required.

The final recipe has fruit, jam and a lovely crust. You slice apples and place them in a buttered baking dish that has jam spread over the bottom.

It’s topped with a buttery, cider infused batter and baked. You could serve cream with this but when I was growing up apple creams would have been served at many occasions.

They were pastry cases filled with apple puree, made with cooking apples, and topped with cream.

They were deliciously simple and for the recipe here I’ve taken the fruit and cream element and combined it. Perfect to have with the hot fruity pudding.