Banana Puffs

A plain steamed pudding batter with sliced banana folded through, baked or steamed in individual cups. The batter carries no fat at all, so the cups must be buttered generously and the bananas are doing most of the work for moisture.

• The hinge: don't overbakeAn hour suits steaming a set of covered cups in a water bath, but is likely too long for dry baking. In a moderate oven these small cups will probably be done well before the hour is up; test with a skewer and watch for tops that spring back.
• Oven temperatureThe book gives none. Treat it as a moderate oven, 350F, and stand the cups in a pan of hot water reaching halfway up if you want the soft, pudding-like texture the recipe intends.
• To steamButter the cups, cover each tightly with foil or a greased paper tied down, and set them on a rack in a covered pot with simmering water partway up the sides. Keep the water at a bare simmer and top it up with boiling water so it never runs dry.
• Sugar and flour in equal cupsThis is a sweet, tender batter closer to a sponge than a cake. Cup measures here are the standard 8 fl oz cup; the flour is plain, since the baking powder is listed separately.
• Eggs"3 well beaten eggs" means beaten until light and thick before they go in, which is the only leavening beyond the teaspoon of baking powder. Period eggs tended to run smaller and less uniform than modern large eggs, though a batter this forgiving will tolerate three large ones.
• The bananasSlice them thin and fold them in last, off the beater, or they break down into the batter. Ripe but still firm fruit holds its shape; heavily spotted bananas will dissolve and make the puffs wet.
• YieldRoughly eight or more standard 6 oz custard cups, filled half full as directed. They rise and then settle, so resist filling them higher.
• Lemon sauceA lemon sauce of this era is typically sugar, cornstarch or flour, boiling water, lemon juice and zest, and a lump of butter, cooked until clear. Cream, poured cold over the hot puffs, is the simpler option and the better one if the fruit is very sweet.