Graham Nut Pudding for Mother’s Day

Tastes can evoke vivid memories, and for me a familiar taste of my childhood is Graham Nut Pudding.  This is a pudding my mom made often when I was growing up.  It is not a typical pudding – none of my friends had ever heard of such a custard – but we all loved it.  It's an old-fashioned comfort pudding and usually it didn’t last long enough to chill before it was devoured at breakfast or brunch.

My mom loves to be in the kitchen.  Her home-cooked dinners, homemade school lunches and countless pies cooling on the kitchen counter fill my memory.   When I started copying some of her recipes to begin my own collection, Graham Nut Pudding was the first one I grabbed.  In fact, my mom made it last week while I was visiting in Boston.

The pudding is made with homemade graham nuts or Grape-Nuts cereal.  I keep intending to make my own graham nuts (using graham flour) and have a couple of recipes tucked away.  Until then, store bought cereal will suffice (Kashi also has a brand of “7 grain nuggets” that I used this last time). The custard is simple to stir together.  While baking, the graham nuts sink and form a cake-like base, the middle becomes a smooth, lightly sweet milky custard and the top is a thin layer of nutmeg-kissed crust.  Honestly, it’s the type of pudding you keep “evening out the edges on” until you’ve nibbled away more than you’ve intended.

As Mother’s Day approaches, it warms my heart to see my sons enjoying this same pudding as much as I do.  Time passes quickly, as evidenced by my delightful, growing boys (both taller than me now!), and I hope as they journey into the world they will have many fond kitchen memories to take with them.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Graham Nut Pudding

From my mom

Serves 8

1/2 cup homemade graham nuts or Grape-Nuts cereal

4 cups whole milk

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional, I prefer to use only the nutmeg)

4 eggs, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 1 1/2 quart casserole and place in a roasting pan. Have boiling water ready to pour in pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together all the ingredients. Pour into the prepared casserole. Pour boiling water in the roasting pan until it reaches about halfway up the casserole.

Bake for 1 1/4 hours. The pudding will be set but still jiggle a bit. Remove it from the roasting pan to cool. It can be eaten warm or put in the refrigerator to chill for the next day. Enjoy!