Today in American History…former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884 in New York City.

Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady during the era of The Great Depression. She was very mindful of this and The White House meals were often very frugal and she tried to implement a low-cost menu whenever possible.

Ernest Hemingway once dined with the Roosevelt’s at The White House and found the food to be not very spectacular. In a letter to his mother-in-law, Ernest Hemingway wrote of his dinner experience at The White House:

“…We had rainwater soup followed by rubber squab, a nice wilted salad and a cake some admirer had sent in by an enthusiastic but unskilled admirer.”

Eleanor Roosevelt did, however, indulge in her favorite dessert during these years – which was also a favorite of her Uncle Theodore Roosevelt’s as well.

Her favorite dessert was quite simple and was a delicious and simple Hasty Pudding.

Hasty Pudding was once referred to as Indian Pudding. The dessert most likely originated in Britain and the recipe brought over by the colonists. While the British recipe consisted of flour, the American colonists used cornmeal because of the abundance of corn in the colonies. As the recipe evolved, it incorporated the use of sugar or molasses, eggs and spices to the ingredients.

Hasty pudding is not a very elegant dessert and is often referred to as mush because well…it’s kind of mushy.

This didn’t stop Eleanor Roosevelt from serving it at The White House for dessert at a Thanksgiving Dinner meal one year. Instead of the traditional pumpkin pie, she served Hasty Pudding.

She also made sure to top it with vanilla ice cream.

Here’s a wonderful recipe for Hasty Pud-ding. It’s very easy to make and how wonderful it is to be able to taste and enjoy something Eleanor (and Teddy!) Roosevelt enjoyed so very much during their lifetime.

Hasty Pudding

Ingredients

2 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

½ cup molasses

¼ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional: Vanilla Ice Cream or Whipped Cream for a topping

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium saucepan, bring the milk, heavy cream, molasses and brown sugar almost to a simmer over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, ginger, cinnamon and salt.

Add the cornmeal mixture to the milk mixture and whisk together. Bring to a simmer and keep whisking.

Pour the mixture into an 8-by-8-inch baking dish. The batter will be thin.

Bake the pudding in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir well and then return the pudding to the oven and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven.

The pudding will still be quite wobbly but will set as it cools. Let it cool for 20 minutes and serve warm.

For extra deliciousness, serve the pudding topped with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.