Pennsylvania German Recipes: Puddings and Desserts

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From The Pennsylvania German Cook Book by J.A. Keller, 1902.

Bread Pudding

One quart bread crumbs, the yolk of two eggs, sugar to taste, sufficient milk to moisten bread well, when baked. Spread on top of the pudding currant or other tartish jelly. Beat the whites of the eggs and one tablespoon of sugar to a froth, put on top of jelly and set in oven to brown.

Mrs. G. B. Dechant, Pa.

Jam Pudding

One cup sugar, three-fourths cup butter, three tablespoons milk, one cup jam, one and one-half cups flour, one teaspoon soda. Bake and serve with sauce.

Mrs. McMillen.

Cottage Pudding

One cup sugar, one cup sweet milk, one pint flour, two tablespoons butter, two eggs, two teaspoons baking powder. Bake as cake. Slice and eat with sauce.

Mrs. K. Wettach.

Sponge Cake Pudding

One cup flour, one and one-half teaspoons baking powder, one cup sugar, four eggs, teaspoon vanilla. Beat all together fifteen minutes. When baked do not cut, but break it, and serve with whipped cream or sauce.

Miss Lydia Schiller.

Marble Pudding

One cup sugar, two eggs, three teaspoons butter, two cups of flour, one teaspoon baking powder sifted with it, half a cup of cold water or milk, half a cup of grated chocolate. Stir the chocolate into half the mixture and pour into the pudding dish, first some of the white then the brown alternating till all is in. Cover tightly and steam one hour and a half.

Serve with fruit sauce. (Very nice.)

Fruit Rolley Polley

One quart flour, two teaspoons baking powder, mix through it, add a little salt, one teaspoon each of butter and lard, water to make a paste like pie crust.

Roll paste one-fourth inch thick, cover with any fruit desired. Roll up and boil in a cloth, leave plenty of room for swelling. Boil one and one-half or two hours. Use the same sauce as for other puddings.

Mrs. F. L. Fenstermacher. Pa.

Grandma’s Bakeoven Mouse

Three eggs, one pint milk, a pinch of salt, make into a stiff batter, then add one cup of fresh fruit of any kind. Bake well. Cut in slices. Eat with sweetened milk.

English Plum Pudding

Three pounds of suet chopped well, three pounds of brown sugar, two pounds of granulated sugar, one tablespoonful each, cloves, alspice, cinnamon, two pints of fine bread crumbs, three quarts of flour, three tablespoons baking powder, one teaspoon salt, three pounds of seeded raisins, two pounds seedless raisins, four pounds currants, one-fourth of a pound of citron, one-fourth of a pound candied lemon peel, six eggs, (more may be used,) beaten and mixed with sufficient warm water to make the pudding of the right consistency, say about two quarts.

Mix the ingredients thoroughly with the hands, then add eggs and water and stir with a spoon. Take lard pails, grease them well, put a layer of currants in the bottom saved from the amount above. Fill pail two-thirds full, put on lids, put in boiler with boiling water half way up sides, and boil ten hours. This will make eight quarts and can be kept two years. Always ready when unexpected guests arrive, when it must be steamed well enough to heat it through.

Steamed Pudding

One cup molasses, one cup water, two cups flour, one tablespoon melted butter, one teaspoon soda, cinnamon and nutmeg if desired. Steam three hours.

Sauce.— One cup sugar, one-half cup butter, mix well; add one egg and one-half cup hot water.

Mrs. Berry.

Suet Pudding

One cup molasses, one cup milk, one cup chopped suet, one cup raisins, two and one-half cups flour, two teaspoons baking powder, flavor to taste. Steam two hours; serve with sauce made of one tablespoon butter, one tablespoon flour creamed, pour on boiling water, flavor and sweeten.

Mrs. G. Holbein.

White Pudding

One pint suet rubbed fine, taking out all stringy substance, two or more quarts of flour, pepper well, add salt and mix all thoroughly. Put into a pan and moisten with water. Stir frequently while baking, and keep moistening by adding a little more water. This can also be steamed, putting it into a cloth bag, and is to be eaten while hot.

Bird’s Nest Pudding

Fill a baking dish partly with sliced tart apples. Make a batter with two cups flour, a heaping teaspoon baking powder, a tablespoon lard or butter, one egg, mix with milk to a rather stiff batter, pour over apples and bake. When done put on a platter upside down, sprinkle with sugar, eat with cream or sauce.

S. K.

Brown Betty

Fill a dish with apples and bread crumbs or pieces of buttered bread alternately, each time season apples with sugar, nutmeg and add small pieces of butter. Add enough water to cook all, sprinkle flour on top and bake. S. K.

Apple Dumplings

Halve the apples, make a dough like soda biscuit, roll, cut in squares, wrap the half of apple into a square of dough, join the edges well. Put into greased pan and bake, or steam. Eat with sugar and cream.

S. K.

Dutch Apple Cake

One pint flour, half teaspoon salt, two teaspoons baking powder, one-fourth cup butter, one egg, one scant cup milk, four sour apples, two tablespoons sugar. Mix flour, salt and baking powder; then rub in the butter, beat egg and add milk, then stir into dry mixture. Spread into a pan, pare and cut apples into eights, lay in parallel rows, sharp edges down, sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and bits of butter; bake twenty minutes.

Berry Pudding

One quart blue or black berries, one pint water, one cup sugar, a five cent baker’s loaf of stale bread, stew berries, sugar and water together. Cut bread into thin slices, and butter bread. Put a layer of bread into a deep dish, and cover with some of the hot berries, continue until all are used. Set away to cool, serve with cream and sugar.

Miss Lydia Schiller,

Cleveland.

Rice Pudding No. 1

One quart milk, one cup sugar, one-half cup rice, a little butter, bake two hours in a moderate oven, stir after it begins to boil. Eat cold.

M. U.

Rice Pudding No. 2

Take two cups boiled rice, add two or three eggs, a tablespoonful of butter, sugar to taste, and a quart of milk, bake till done.

Rice Balls

Prepare rice as for table. Season with salt, butter and sugar. While hot pour into cups, let it get cold, then turn out into a flat dish. Eat with whipped cream or sugar and milk. S. K.

Tapioca Pudding No. 1

Four large tablespoons tapioca soaked in a quart of sweet milk, boil until clear,

Beat the yolks of three eggs, one-half cup sugar, nearly one cup prepared cocoanut, stir in and boil until thick, beat the whites of eggs with two tablespoons sugar, spread on, and sprinkle with cocoanut, set in oven and brown.

Tapioca No. 2

One-half cup tapioca soaked in milk or water, two eggs, sugar to sweeten, one quart milk,a pinch of salt. Let the milk come to a boil, then stir in the tapioca, sugar and the eggs well beaten, leaving out the whites, boil and cover with the beaten whites, —For tapioca fruit slice oranges, bananas or peaches, lay in bottom of glass dish, sprinkle with sugar, after the pudding is cold slip it out on top of fruit.

Prune Pudding No. 1

Steam one-half pound prunes until tender, take out the seeds, crack them and take out kernels. Hash kernels and prunes, beat the whites of five eggs to a froth, take one cup sugar, mix all together and bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes. Fig Pudding can be made in the same way.

Mrs. E. Mettach.

Prune Pudding No. 2

One and one-half cups prunes cooked and seeded, the whites of five eggs. Beat whites and sweeten. Put prunes into pan, cover with whites and brown in oven. Take yolks make a custard and boil, flavor and pour over top.

Mrs. F. H. Keller.

Orange Pudding

Boil one pint of milk, add sugar and one tablespoonful cornstarch, dissolve on a little cold milk, and the yolks of two or three eggs, well beaten. When done let it cool, then pour over four large oranges that have neen cut into small pieces and sweetened. Beat the whites of eggs with sugar and cover top.

Mrs. Waltz.

Mousse Orange

Dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of water, the juice of one lemon, boil a few minutes, remove from fire, put in the peel of two oranges, and let them lie for a few minutes, then remove, rub off the skin from six oranges with loaf sugar, and add the orange sugar with sugar syrup, and the juice of the six oranges, and the yolks of nine eggs, beat this with an egg beater until nearly boiling, remove quickly, set in cold water and continue beating until cold, then add one pint of whipped cream.

Orange Dessert

A simple dessert is made of layers of sliced bananas and oranges thickly sprinkled with sugar, and covered with whipped cream. Oranges and pineapples can be used.

Mrs. M. R.

Cornstarch Pudding

Two eggs,one quart milk, sweeten, beat the eggs, two tablespoons cornstarch, boil, divide into three parts, color one part lavender, the other pink and the third one cream. Place tablespoon of each into sauce dishes, and cover with whipped cream.

Mrs. C.O. Waltz.

Pineapple Pudding

Three cups milk, three tablespoons cornstarch, two tablespoons sugar, whites of three eggs, mix cornstarch with a little of the cold milk, add to the hot milk, add sugar and a pinch of salt, let it boil until it thickens, then the beaten whites and half a can of pineapples put in a mould, when cold serve with cream, or sauce.

Orange Custard

Take the juice of six large oranges, and put over a slow tire adding sugar to taste. When sugar is dissolved remove from tire, and when nearly cold add the beaten yolks of six eggs, and a pint of milk that has previously been boiled, put on tire and stir till it thickens. To serve, place in glasses and add the whites of the eggs, which have been well beaten with sugar.

Keller, J.A. The Pennsylvania German Cook Book. Scranton Printing Company, 1902.

J.A. Keller

Sweets of the World

Do you know the recipe for the best cookie, pastry, candy, or other sweet treat in the world? Share it here!

View Group