Baked Cherry Pudding

Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 14 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made apple crisp earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

The trees along the highway are turning — maples red, oaks gold, the Bradford pears doing their useless purple thing. Iowa falls are short and violent and beautiful. The kitchen shifts to slow mode: crockpots, Dutch ovens, the oven at 375 from September through April. The fall cooking is the cooking of a woman settling in for the long season.

When the maples go red and the oven comes back on for good, I want something warm and unhurried in the kitchen — something that bakes low and slow and fills the house the way only fall baking can. The apple crisp was a start, but after a Thursday of tater tot hotdish and the particular gratitude that comes from a kitchen that holds a family together season after season, I found myself reaching for this baked cherry pudding. It’s the kind of recipe that belongs to the long season — the kind Jack will probably remember the smell of long after he’s outgrown the Farm Fund jar.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour | Servings: 8

Ingredients

1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup boiling water
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven. Heat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x9-inch baking dish or a comparable 2-quart baking dish.
Spread the cherries. Pour the cherry pie filling evenly into the prepared baking dish and set aside.
Make the batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk, melted butter, and vanilla until just combined and smooth. Pour the batter evenly over the cherry filling — do not stir.
Add the topping. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the boiling water until the sugar dissolves. Slowly pour this mixture over the top of the batter. Again, do not stir.
Bake. Transfer to the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and set and the cherry filling is bubbling up around the edges.
Rest and serve. Allow the pudding to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Spoon into bowls and top with whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Baked Cherry Pudding — The Kitchen That Keeps Growing