Skip to main content
Dessert

Apple Pudding

A baked dessert made with mashed apples, butter, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, and brandy or rosewater.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Apple Pudding

Why it works: Apple and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the apples

  1. Peel, core, and cut the apples into small pieces.

  2. Stew the apples in a little water until soft.

  3. Pass the stewed apples through a sieve to remove lumps.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth.

  2. Whisk the eggs and add them to the butter and sugar mixture.

  3. Stir in the mashed apples, brandy or rosewater, and nutmeg.

Bake

  1. Cover pie plates with a rich crust and pour in the mixture.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Butter + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,127 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the bulk and fruity flavor, and as they are mashed they give the filling a soft, smooth body.
Butter
Adds richness and tenderness, and helps make the filling smooth and creamy.
Sugar
Creams with the butter for a smooth base and adds sweetness.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the filling runny while overbaking can make it curdled, dry, or rubbery. Baking until just set gives a smooth, sliceable texture.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, nutmeg, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

More apple pudding recipes

Baked 128Boiled 64Steamed 30Sago 26Swiss 24Boston 17 See all 461 →

You might also like

Apple CakeApple Cake80 recipesApple MeringueApple Meringue75 recipesBrandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesDried Apple CakeDried Apple Cake51 recipes