Indian Pudding

Indian pudding has been one of the staples of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners all my life.  It was only served twice a year.  In recent years, my three sisters would host both holidays, but we would be in Rochester for Thanksgiving and in California for Christmas.  My sister Betsey was the one who made the Indian pudding for the gathering.  I actually can't remember the last time I had this delicious dessert because we were never at the family gatherings.  It is never served at the 4th of July picnic!  So after missing this delicacy for so long, last night I decided to make myself a big dish of Indian pudding.  This recipe goes back to my Grandmother Spencer, in Guilford, and it said on my mom's hand written copy of the recipe, that my grandmother got it from her friend Mertie Loomis.  How is that for a wonderful New England name!

So everything went well in my endeavors in the kitchen, and here is my first dish, along with some vanilla ice cream.  The kids always had ice cream on top, and the adults always had something called "hard sauce" which is made from powdered sugar, butter and either rum, whiskey or brandy and an egg or heavy cream.  Trust me, the vanilla ice cream is better.  Kathy had never tasted it, so she tried it last night and is not a fan.  She said it is not sweet at all, but the vanilla ice cream takes care of that for me.  It was absolutely delicious to my taste, and so nice to have it once again!