Yes, you read that right: this dessert is a bread pudding-like dish with none other than Grape Nuts cereal to give body to the pudding, and yes, you can make it a figgy pudding. Honestly, the thought of cooking with Grape Nuts was enough to pique my oddball Jell-O stunts interest.
I prepared this recipe almost exactly as written, except I omitted the nuts because I didn't have any on hand, so to fill the space I added a little extra raisins, prunes, citron, and Grape Nuts. Also, as per usual, I replaced lemon Jell-O with lemon extract and unflavored gelatin, plus a tablespoonful of brown sugar.
One particularly exciting aspect of this recipe is getting to use my new mini gelatin molds for the first time! Previously I've only made Jell-O molds in a Bundt pan, which is just not the same. You can't see the scalloped edge detail on these molds too clearly due to the granular look of the pudding, but I was happy to have the chance to test those bad boys out, and sure enough, a purpose-made mold is much easier to work with for this purpose!
These molds smell and taste just like Christmas with all the sugary spiced fruit and just a hint of citrus. After tasting a bit of Grape Nuts by itself, I was deeply concerned about the bran flavor ruining the dish, but I think it is a perfect foil to the saccharine fruits. You can't even really taste it since it soaks up the sweetened gelatin. Of note, I think this pudding would be great with chopped pecans or walnuts.
As strange as it may look and sound, this Plum Pudding actually does taste very good. The gelatin only really holds the components together and makes the Grape Nuts soften, so it doesn't taste much like Jell-O texturally, which is good in this case. It is very strongly spiced, though, which would make this a perfect contender for the a la mode treatment. And if you can't find citron, I wouldn't fret too much--it added a little crunchiness to the final product, but the flavor it adds is negligible. All in all, I think this would definitely be an acceptable alternative to a traditional plum pudding at Christmastime, and plus, it's a holiday dessert with all the nutrition and fiber of Grape Nuts impregnated with a superfood (gelatin), only with fruit added! It's a win-win!
After reading about the optional custard or hard sauce in the recipe, I immediately started looking up what in the world a hard sauce is. It turns out that it is an old-fashioned, sweet, buttery sauce that is British in origin. After some deliberation I made a version of this sauce that I found on Southern Living's website. While this sauce would be an even better accompaniment if spiked with rum or rum extract, I made it as written with only vanilla and (freshly grated) nutmeg, except with half the butter since I ran out. Even made in this relatively tame fashion, it served very well to dress up the pudding, though it does look like the kind of brown gravy that one would serve with potatoes. I guess I'm mostly just glad that they didn't call for serving it with mayonnaise...
*This is my new nickname for all those avid readers of The Actual Joys of Jell-O out there.
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