Today I am bringing you a treat from Quebec. This pudding chomeur recipe is simply delicious. Called “pouding chômeur” in French, this version is sweet cookie dough-like dumplings baked in a decadent maple cream.
Rich, sweet, easy to make, and hard to stop eating, give pudding chomeur the next time you are in need of a homey, comforting dessert. It is heavenly.
Another fun one to try is my maple pumpkin pudding.
For ease of browsing, here are all of my custard and pudding recipes. Thanks for stopping by!
What Is Pudding Chomeur?
In all the years I took French in high school, I never learned the word chomeur. I learned words for window and bird and cow and school. Verbs to be, to do, to go. I learned places to work: Usine. Boulangerie. Bibliothèque. Hôpital. But never the word chomeur.
So when I chose to make pudding chomeur after seeing a recipe for it on Food 52, I just thought it was some fancy Canadian dessert.
And then I looked it up. And chomeur means unemployed.
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Friends, pudding chomeur is the Dessert of the Unemployed. Poor man’s pudding.
Where Did It Come From?
During the Great Depression, some women who used to be factory workers came up with this dessert so they could still provide their families with sweet endings.
It’s made from a bunch of stuff that most Canadians of the day could get hold of for next to nothing.
- eggs
- butter
- cream
- maple syrup
As an American in the South, this sounds like a pretty expensive list of ingredients to me, but if everyone had a chicken or three and a cow–or a neighbor had one–all that was left was the maple syrup. Which comes from Canada. Which is covered with sugar maples. So, you see: Cheap!
There’s Comfort in Nostalgic, Inexpensive Desserts
A few years ago, I heard Nick Cannon doing stand up on Comedy Central.
He was talking about how he doesn’t understand fancy desserts. When he was growing up, dessert was some Wonder bread with butter, sugar and cinnamon on it.
I get that. I ate plenty of cinnamon toast, too. And bread, butter, and sugar sandwiches. They’re cheap, and they hit the spot.
That’s pudding chomeur.
It’s cheap to make (if you’re Canadian and own chickens and cows and maple trees), and it hits the spot.
The recipe from the Food52 Cookbook appears to be fairly standard. Some of the recipes I found used brown sugar, water and butter for the syrup, but just as many used the maple syrup/heavy cream combination.
And really, when given the choice, isn’t that what you’d do? Even if it is a bit more expensive?
Other Ways to Make It
Before I made this pudding, I thought about plumping up and mincing some dried apples to add to the batter, and I think that would be really good, as would chopped, toasted nuts.
I ended up not adding either, but know you could add both some nuts and chopped apple to the “dumpling” dough if you wanted.
I did incorporate brown sugar and cinnamon into the batter, and because even though I don’t love brown sugar cinnamon Pop-Tarts, I love that flavor combination (see my brown sugar cinnamon pound cake if you’re a fan of the same combo).
And of course I added salt. In the batter and the sauce, because otherwise, I think my teeth would’ve fallen out as I ate.
What’s In It?
As I said, it’s “poor man’s pudding,” and as such, it is made pretty much with basic staples most French Canadians have on hand.
- butter
- brown sugar
- salt
- cinnamon
- eggs
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- maple syrup (2 cups)
- heavy cream
What If I Can’t Find All Purpose Flour
If you’re out of all purpose flour, you can use self-rising flour instead.
Replace the all purpose flour with an equal amount of self rising flour, and then leave out the salt and baking powder called for in the “dumplings.”
That’s a Lot of Maple Syrup!
Yes, it is.
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If you happen to have real maple syrup on hand, I can’t think of a better way to use it.
But if you don’t, you can also make a syrup using brown sugar and water (1 part sugar to 1 part water) mixed with an equal amount of heavy cream.
I’d go with 1 cup of brown sugar and water along with 1 cup of heavy cream.
It won’t taste quite the same, but it will still be an indulgent treat!
Instructions
This is a Very Easy dish to make. And eat.
You can make the batter the day before baking if you want and just put it in the fridge.
The next day, boil the cream, syrup and salt together, pour it over you dough, and bake.
I served it with just a touch of unsweetened cream. Not even whipped. Just straight.
What Does It Taste Like?
Pudding chomeur is a bit similar to sticky toffee pudding in that it is, well, sticky. And sweet. And delicious.
I didn’t really know what to expect when I started out with balls of stodgy cookie dough in hot syrup, but the dough baked up into rich, buttery, cinnamon dumplings floating in rich mapley goodness.
Very, Very yum.
Note that it is very sweet, so it’s a great dessert to serve a crowd–nobody needs to eat a ton of this at one sitting.
It’s also very rich with a nice contrast of light dumplings and luscious sauce.
If you’ve never had pudding chomeur before, I think you’ll be a fan just like me.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Pudding Chomeur Recipe
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Equipment
Ingredients
For the Dough
- 2 sticks unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 1 scant cup brown sugar packed
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 eggs
- 10 oz all purpose flour by weight (about 2 1/3 cups)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
For the Sauce
- 2 cups maple syrup (I used Grade B)
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
For the Dough
- Cream the butter until smooth.
- Add the sugar, salt and cinnamon, and cream until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Beat the two eggs, and then drizzle in the egg a bit at a time.
- Whisk the flour and the baking powder together and stir it in on low speed until just combined. Refrigerate overnight.
For the Syrup
- Bring the cream, maple syrup and salt to a boil. Remove from the heat.
To Assemble and Bake
- You can bake this in individual ramekins or in a large baking dish. Either way, divide the dough into 10-12 equal portions. Place one in each ramekin, or just put them all in one dish, side by side.
- Pour the hot syrup mixture over the dough and bake at 450F for 20-25 minutes, or until a lovely deep golden brown on top.
- Serve with syrup and some heavy cream, sour cream or a bit of creme fraiche.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
And there you have it: poor man’s pudding. So very delicious!
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Hello Jenni!
I’ve been browsing your site this evening. I love puddings! I came across this one and had to make a remark. I’m from Massachusetts. My first 54 years I grew up and lived in Massachusetts. All the New England states produce loads of maple syrup! New York is also a large producer of maple syrup. You don’t need to go to Canada for it! My husband and I also lived in Canada for 9 years (church ministry) on Prince Edward Island and have been back in the states since 2018 but are in SC now. I LOVE maple syrup. I’ve had Vermont maple syrup and NH maple syrup. I’ve probably had Canadian maple syrup! I’m just a die-hard New Englander and miss living there. Maple syrup is great drizzled on coffee ice cream! 🙂 And I’ve had bourbon barrel maple syrup! ooh la la!
Hey, Linda (again!) So glad you’re enjoying the site! I guess being from the south, maple syrup was always an “import” for us. The dessert is Canadian for sure, but do you remember ever having it when you lived in Mass? Or a version of it? I’m sure there are plenty of maple desserts where maple syrup is plentiful. 🙂
Love, love, love this recipe and story. Tres bon! At least I think I told you something fab like, “You rocked this!”
oh my gosh. This was so delicious and surprisingly not as sweet as one would think. I served it warm without any additional topping, although many around the table requested ice cream. I was told that I could make it again in May for the dessert for one of the friend’s 65th birthday. I would definitely add UConn Dairy Bar Vanilla Ice Cream to the shopping list.
I agree it made way too much syrup (for my pan anyway). I made 9 little balls of dough and flattened them slightly. Placed them in a 9×9″ baking dish. Covered them with syrup to about 1/2″ from the top of the baking dish. I have about 1 3/4 cup left in a canning jar to be used on oatmeal for the next, well, probably the next month!
The only other change I made to the recipe was to reduce the syrup by simmering it for about 2 hours the night before to thicken it. I don’t know why I did it, but I was afraid the syrup and cream mixture would be too thin. It was, in my opinion, a good thick gooey consistency. Next time I’ll make it as written, in order to compare!
I love that you reduced the syrup–I had wondered about the same thing, myself. I boiled the cream&syrup together for about 5 minutes, which reduced it slightly, and it also reduced some in the oven. By the time we chilled/reheated/chilled/reheated a couple of times, the syrup was very thick and lovely. It was a little thin to begin w/. I think reducing is a great idea! I am so happy you’re playing along w/#food52sday!!
Love that recipe: le dessert des chomeurs, je ne connaissais pas! Is it a French Canadian origin then? Keep recipes like that coming 🙂
Yes, it originated in Quebec. It’s very yum, and I actually have been looking into French Canadian desserts because of this one and as suggested y @JasonSandeman:disqus in his comment below. 🙂
Pudding is very yummy dish. It can be best served as sweet dish. It is really delicious dish. Thanks for this sharing.
Oh, now I must insist that you go to a Cabana a sucre! You would find this pouding chomeur there, as well as my favorites: Les oreilles de Chrisse, Saucisses des erables, crepes, chow chow, cretons, maple eggs, and other awesome maple syrup goodies.
Sounds like I need to delve deeper into Canadian desserts. I am a Fan of maple syrup:)
Wait a minute: I grew up in Canada and never heard of this deliciousness! Someone needs to explain… At least thank you for revealing this glaring lack in my upbringing. 😉
It’s a Quebec thing, if that makes you feel any better, TN! It are tasty, too!
New-to-me dessert 🙂 looks comforting and delicious!
It was new to me, too. That’s why we picked it! It is, indeed, both comforting and delicious, Yuri:)
Poor man’s pudding works for me! Looks delish.
I studied French in college and sometimes do okay. I do remember one line from high school Spanish though. “Hola, Juan, como esta usted?” That’s the sum total of one year of Spanish education. 🙂
Not bad, Maureen. I never took Spanish, so I’m woefully inept. Sigh.
Yum. Ohhhhhh, yum. Filing away for a cooler evening…
Yes, definitely better for cold weather!
What’s wrong with plain old white cotton bread, budda and sugah??? Divine ….
Nuffing wrong with it, Mommy–I likes it. But I think I’d like it even more smothered in maple syrup and heavy cream! 8D