Sussex pond pudding

Prue Leith’s Sussex pond puddings enclose lemon halves in suet pastry with an unsalted-butter-and-muscovado filling. Her version makes two miniature puddings and accompanies them with its own crème Anglaise.

Self-raising flour, fresh white breadcrumbs, grated lemon zest and vegetable suet are mixed with whole milk and water to make a soft dough. Each half of the dough is divided again, keeping a smaller piece covered for the lid while the larger piece lines a greased, paper-lined mould.

Butter and light muscovado sugar are mixed for the filling. A quarter goes into each pastry-lined mould, then a cut lemon half is set inside and covered with the remaining filling; water brushed around the pastry rims helps seal the lids.

Pleated baking paper and foil cover the moulds, secured with string handles. The puddings steam while the separate custard is made by heating milk, double cream and scraped vanilla seeds, whisking them into yolks and caster sugar, then gently cooking until the custard coats a spoon.

After a short cooling, the string, foil and paper are removed and each pudding is inverted onto a plate. The crème Anglaise is served on the side of the lemon-filled pastry.