Early American Republic · United States

Amelia Simmons's Apple Pudding

Name: Amelia Simmons's Apple Pudding
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 6 tart apples, peeled, cored and quartered; 100 g caster sugar; 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 30 g butter; 250 g shortcrust pastry; 3 eggs; 240 ml milk

From American Cookery · Amelia Simmons · 1796

Verified from original source

America's first cookbook offers this baked apple pudding with pastry.

Historical note: Pare, quarter and core tart apples, lay in paste...

History

Amelia Simmons's apple pudding appears in 'American Cookery' (1796), the first cookbook written by an American and published in the United States. Simmons, describing herself as an 'American Orphan', created recipes reflecting post-Revolutionary American ingredients and tastes. Her apple puddings used native American apples, often combined with pastry or batter, sweetened with molasses or sugar, and flavoured with rosewater or spices. The recipe represented typical New England farmhouse cookery accessible to ordinary households. Apple puddings remained standard American desserts through the 19th century, evolving into modern apple crisps, cobblers, and baked puddings.

Sources

Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery. 1796 (facsimile editions available)
Hess, Karen (ed.). American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. 1996 (scholarly edition with historical introduction)
Stavely, Keith and Fitzgerald, Kathleen. America's Founding Food. 2004
Davidson, Alan (ed.). The Oxford Companion to Food. 1999
Smith, Andrew F. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. 2004

Serves

Prep

20m

Cook

45m

Difficulty

Medium