To ask what you would serve for pudding at home?

[DessertHunter]

Looking for inspiration - also originally from another European country (married to a Scot), so probably missing out on some nice things! 😁

We usually have pudding after dinner but I am running a little low on ideas. My family always served very 70s style desserts and I have just carried on with it - so fruit (fresh if in season, preserved if not), chocolate pudding, rice pudding, ice cream, jelly, some trifle-like concoctions based on "that is what we have in and I am not going to the shops".

No real input from DH or his family, there is a lot of neurodiversity on that side so food is a bit of a tricky topic for most of them. TTC but will probably need IVF, so children not an immediate consideration.

No cake or biscuits after dinner, as that is a whole other meal where I am from and I can't get my head around combining them with cooked food. It is what you eat with your colleagues, while you ignore work for an hour, or with your family, while you ignore housework for much longer than an hour, and that is a hill I'm willing to die on!

Google has failed me so wise Mumsnetters, what are your day-to-day puddings I should give a try? Tell me what I'm missing out on! Also, I still don't understand cheese boards, despite having tried very hard.

Also, this being MN, I'm sure I'll get "we don't eat pudding" within the first 5 posts - good for you, keep living your happy life and I'll keep my lowkey hedonism going 😉

i detest crumble so we never have that

But you eat stewed fruit. Don't you like shortbread (which is all crumble topping is)?

Crumble is definitely not cake. You never go into a cafe and have a cup of tea and a slice of crumble.

When I was growing up we always had pudding after tea (I was up north)
Usually one of these:

Strawberries in the summer (with milk and sugar for cost reasons, but served in my grannies old cut glass bowls!)
Jamaican ginger cake - shop bought
Strudel - shop bought, with custard
Banana and custard
Banana cake
Lemon cake
Rice pudding - tinned
Chocolate custard - tinned
Apple pie with custard - shop bought
Bread pudding - homemade with bread and dried fruit and cream and custard
Summer pudding - homemade with bread and red fruit and cream

I know you don't want cake and biscuits but you could turn the cake into pudding if you warm it up and serve with custard.

FWIW I never ever eat pudding now as I feel it utterly ruins a meal, even if I'm in a michelin restaurant😁

But I absolutely love your passion for serving up a hearty pudding.

Last thought - I do find chocolate mousse very easy to make and you can make it sparing if you use very dark chocolate and serve in espresso sized amounts.

Quite relieved people are suggesting actual puddings. I was scared it was going to be the standard MN “yogurt and a small piece of fruit” 😂

Fruit fools are very easy and quick to prepare;
Chocolate mousse made with marshmallows and cream, no eggs - Nigella has a recipe;
Roast / grilled stone fruit or ripe figs with honey and yoghurt / lebneh and some nuts

Our local Assembly House has a Pudding Night
The menu for one of them is here with a variety of puddings for dessert and a link to other nights and menus below it.

If you like 70s style then it’s bananas and custard!
Pancakes with fruit and ice cream/cream/syrup is easy.
Or Angel Delight😂

We don’t have pudding every day but normally berries and yoghurt. If it a a more fancy meal then I’ll make a crumble or a raspberry, pistachio and chocolate brownie.

@Tommeetippee I do love Stewed fruit & I quite like shortbread but I dislike the texture of crumble

Another easy one is puff pastry rolled out like a pizza, spread with ground almond paste you make with eggs and sugar (I forget the name..begins with an f..like a Marzipan paste. FRANGIPANE!!!) and then you put halves of peaches or Apricots on it drizzled with honey and chopped pistachio nuts. Then cook. Then a drizzle more of honey to shine things up.

Or plum halves drizzled with maple syrup. Put in oven and then sprinkle with basil leaves and maybe toasted Flaked almonds. Tres quick and easy.

Is no-one going to comment that it's called dessert?... 😀

Clearly, I have been doing crumble all wrong for years - always topped it with butter crumble! 😂 Will give the shortbread a try this autumn.

I like the chocolate mouse idea, I always for get it is an option! Also, tiramisu!

Contentious! 😉. I don't know many people who would use the word dessert?

Me too! Two pages in and nobody has accused me of killing the NHS yet! 😁

Stewed fruit like plums or apple or rhubarb. Greek yoghurt. Dark chocolate. Strawberries and cream.

OP this is a great thread! Lots of inspiration as I have 3 males in my house who are pudding fanatics.

Pudding is generally used to refer to the sweet course after dinner and it is also often something rustic and homely like apple crumble served with custard and is generally very filling.

Dessert is generally lighter and more delicate. Dessert is a term used more in the US too and has infiltrated the UK.

Ditto to crumble (any crumble) and Eve’s pudding is v nice too - just apples with sponge on top.

When staying at a BIL’s place in France, I’ve often made a crumble with a mix of any fruit that needs using up, so e.g. strawberries* nectarines, peaches, plus apple and rhubarb from the garden. It’s always gone down well with French neighbours coming for dinner.

*strawberries from the local supermarket never last more than a day - I mean as in going bad!

Angel delight 😀

Yes to whoever said pancakes, we tend to only have them for pudding on pancake day & always think they are so nice why don’t we have them more! One of the great things about holidaying in France is cheap crepes.

Yes agreed. Pancakes are great..my husband makes them a lot as a pudding rather than breakfast. The boys also make banana splits (bananas cut lengthwise and then topped with icecream and melted chocolate).

My favourite is Apple strudel.
I make crumble with oats on top rather than the usual crumble topping

Pancakes are a favourite here.
My sil always has jelly other go, with cream, fruit, ice cream or custard

Lemon possets. Quick, simple and tasty and served with homemade blueberry or raspberry compote.

If you can’t pick it up with your fingers, it’s not cake.

(Yes, yes, I know you should use a fork. I’m just, like, a total rebel and free spirit. I have pineapple on pizza too. Just don’t care. Though I don’t have soup in a mug. I’m not an animal.)