Pawpaw Pudding

Recipe from Sheri Castle

Adapted by Jeff Gordinier

Updated Oct. 21, 2020

Pawpaw Pudding
Rikki Snyder for The New York Times
Total Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
5(186)
Comments
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When it comes to pawpaw, accept no substitutes. Trust us; we tried. We went to a bunch of experts — scholars who specialize in fruit, plus chefs and cookbook authors who know all about the proud culinary history of Appalachia — and we asked them, “If a home cook doesn’t happen to have any pawpaw, what combination of other fruits and vegetables might work well as a replacement?” We picked up passing nods to sweet potatoes, bananas, papayas, avocados, really ripe mangoes. But in the end everyone came back with variations on “Forget it, there’s nothing like a pawpaw.”

The goopy-textured, tropical-ish fruit whose name sounds like a punch line on “Hee Haw” can be found scattered all over the country, but recipes (for cakes, pies, puddings) abound largely in West Virginia and nearby states like Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. If you happen to secure some pawpaw, best to get out of its way, as is the case with this pudding. Pawpaw is a holiday guest who responds well to minimal interference. —Jeff Gordinier

Featured in: The United States of Thanksgiving

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Ingredients

Yield:12 servings
  • ½cup/1 stick/113 grams butter, melted and slightly cooled, plus more for baking dish
  • 2cups/400 grams sugar
  • 1½cups/190 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼teaspoon salt
  • ½teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 3large eggs
  • 2cups /1 pound/454 grams pawpaw pulp, thawed if frozen (see note)
  • 1½cups/355 milliliters whole milk
  • 1teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)

297 calories; 10 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 35 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 111 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish.

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

  3. Step 3

    In another large bowl, whisk together eggs and pawpaw pulp until smooth. Whisk in milk and vanilla. Whisk in melted butter. Pour into sugar mixture and stir only until combined.

  4. Step 4

    Pour batter into prepared dish. Bake 50 minutes or until just set in the center. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack before cutting. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

Tip
  • Frozen pawpaw pulp can be bought online from integrationacres.com and earthy.com.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
186 user ratings
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Comments

P.M.

We had a glut of pawpaws this year- almost 400 lbs! We sold or gave away a lot of them but I did process and freeze quite a lot. I made this pudding for Thanksgiving and one of the guests declared it was the best desert he'd ever had- a rare rave from him. I halved the sugar, I was concerned the amount of sugar in the receipt would overwhelm the unique floral character of the pawpaw.

Linda

Delicious, but I don’t taste the pawpaw as much as I had hoped. But my husband likes it, and he doesn’t really care for pawpaw. Like others, I drastically cut down the sugar: about a half cup instead of two cups. My pawpaws are plenty sweet already.

HB

This is extremely sweet. If I make it again I'll use only 1 1/2 cups of sugar, if that.

Nancy

Made as directed. Added a crumb topping w chopped hazelnuts. Amazing!

John Wilmot

Too much work and too sweet. I added paw paw to vanilla pudding mix with a little gelatin powder and poured it into a graham cracker crust. Gone within an hour.

Jessee J.

I made this as directed, with all the sugar, and it was very tasty - as another commenter put it, very much like a sticky toffee pudding, with a dense, slightly chewy, somewhat bouncy texture. I wanted to try it sans topping so as not to interfere with the flavor (the pawpaw does come through, though there's a fair bit of spice and caramel notes from the butter and sugar), but it would definitely benefit from the contrast of cool whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. It makes 12 generous portions!

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Credits

Adapted from Sheri Castle

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