Pudding Chomeur

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Lightly grease 8 individual (5-ounce/150 mL) ramekins or other ovenproof dishes and place them onto a baking tray.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or your fingertips to work the butter into the flour until a rough, crumbly mixture – small bits of butter may be visible, but that is OK. Add the milk and stir until the mixture comes together – it will be sloppy. Spoon this into the prepared baking dishes.

To prepare the sauce, bring the maple syrup, brown sugar, water, butter and vanilla up to a boil over high heat in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally. Once it reaches a rolling boil, remove it from the heat and ladle this over the cake in the ramekins – it will seem like a lot of syrup, but that is expected (half will bake into the cake and half will thicken into a sauce at the bottom…magic!). Bake the puddings for about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted into the centre of a pudding comes out clean. Let the puddings cool for about 15 minutes before serving (that syrup is hot!)