Weekly Food Challenge

This is a good thing to do with those pears that refuse to ripen. It's a nice comforting autumn/winter sort of pudding with some interesting textures: it's a little bit crisp on the top, and gorgeously fudgy and sticky around the pears. It would probably work well with vanilla ice cream, but we didn't have any.



3-5 pears (depends on the size of your pears and on the size of your dish)

4oz caster sugar
4oz butter (or equivalent)
2 eggs
4oz self-raising flour
1tbsp cocoa powder
pinch salt

Preheat oven to about 200degC.

Grease an oven-proof dish. Peel, quarter and core the pears and place them in a single layer over the bottom of the dish.

Dump all the ingredients for the sponge into a mixing bowl in the order they're listed. Beat until smooth. (Alternatively - which might be slightly less messy - begin by creaming the sugar and butter together, then add the eggs gradually, then the flour and cocoa. But it's a pudding.) If it looks a bit too thick you can add some milk to loosen it.

Spoon the mixture over the pears, making sure they're all covered.

Bake for about 25 minutes.


This quantity serves four, or five if you're being stingy.