Miso-caramel apple pudding

I wasn't exaggerating when I said I'd been really getting into puddings. In addition to the marmalade toast sponge pudding I posted last week, this miso-caramel apple one is the other I've been making a lot right now. I first made it as I was curious about the use of miso in dessert - something about that deep savoury taste infusing a sweet caramel intrigued. Plus it's a great showcase for apples while they're in season. This dessert comes together in two parts - the apples are softened on the stovetop in butter and sugar and miso, then poured into a baking dish and covered in a blanket of sour cream sponge. The whole thing is baked in the oven, then emerges burnished brown. The fruit below is still nicely toothsome - so not a soggy mess - contrasting nicely with the lightness of the sponge above. The miso manages to make this both comforting and sophisticated. And unbelievably more-ish. If you don't already have miso in your fridge, buying a jar would be a good investment as the two teaspoons required for this recipe will barely make a dent on your supply, which means you can make it again (and again).

Marmalade toast sponge pudding

This winter has been the coldest in a while here in Sydney, and it's been raining for what feels like weeks. I've been really embracing puddings lately and this one is a recent revelation. The recipe comes from Jess Elliot Dennison, a Scottish cook whose recipes are in regular rotation in my repertoire. Her sticky triple ginger cake is a favourite, and now this genius pantry-cupboard pudding that utilises two ingredients I am extremely fond of and thus never without: sourdough bread, and marmalade. It comes together quickly, uses just one egg (a bonus in these dark times of avian flu and eye-watering egg prices) and offers comfort from the cold, and the dark. A bit of decadent dairy is a good accompaniment - ice cream of course, but plain old single cream is simple and delicious, especially soaked in to the sponge.