FUN, FOOD, AND FAMILY SERIES/GIVEAWAY - CAT LAVOIE - POUDING CHÔMEUR

Thank you so much for having me, Tracie! I'm happy to be here to help celebrate In Need of Therapy's anniversary.

Today I'd like to share a recipe for a traditional French-Canadian dessert with a funny name—Pouding Chômeur, or Poor Man's Pudding.

  

This sweet and sticky concoction was invented by female factory workers in Montreal during the Great Depression. Times were tough and most families couldn't afford anything fancy on their table. Ingredients needed to be inexpensive, readily available and every dish needed to feed a crowd. Pouding Chômeur quickly became a popular dessert and the recipe spread throughout Quebec.

I love this recipe because a) it's delicious and b) it's one of the first desserts I learned to make when I moved away from home to go to University. As a student living on my own, I had to watch every penny and this dessert was a special treat… and, best of all, it reminded me of home and my mom's cooking. (But only when I didn't burn it!)

Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

POOR MAN'S PUDDING

Sauce:

1 1/2 cups cold water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter

Cake:

1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

- Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

- To make the sauce, combine water and brown sugar in a saucepan. Add the butter. Over medium heat, cook until the butter is melted and the mixture starts to boil.

- Pour the sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish. Now it's time to make the cake!

- Sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

- Whisk sugar and milk. Combine with flour mixture and stir until you have a thick batter.

- Spread batter over sauce in baking dish.

- Bake 30 minutes.

CAT LAVOIE was born in the small town of Jonquière in Québec, Canada. At the age of nineteen, she packed up her things (mostly books) and moved to the big city of Montreal where she currently lives with her tempestuous cat Abbie–who is both adorable and quite possibly evil.

An incurable Anglophile since her university days where she studied English Literature, she can often be found daydreaming about her next trip to London. Since she’s an expert at the art of procrastination, Cat is easily distracted by cooking and home improvement shows–even though she’s not particularly good at either.

Cat grew up watching soap operas and legal dramas and–had she not decided to be a claims analyst by day and write chick lit by night–she would have probably become a designer suit-wearing lawyer. Or a character on All My Children (which is what she really wanted to be when she was twelve).

Cat is not sure whether she’s a geek or a nerd–and is afraid she might be both. Breaking the Rules is her first novel.

Find Cat Lavoie Online:

Facebook

Website 

Twitter

Buy Breaking the Rules:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

In celebration of In Need of Therapy's one-year anniversary and the book's Cuban heroine, enter to win a copy of the cookbook Celebrate Cuban - 100 Great Recipes for Cuban Entertaining by Three Guys From Miami. You can enter up to 6 times using the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway will end at midnight on Wednesday, July 31st, and a winner will be announced on Thursday, August 1st. This contest is open to residents of the USA only.



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