My Great Grandma Snow's Carrot Pudding

This time of year isn't complete without my Great Grandma Snow's carrot pudding with lemon sauce.  I remember she would make it every year for Thanksgiving and it would be in a big coffee can with foil tightly covering the opening of the can.  Last Thanksgiving was the first year I didn't have carrot pudding and it felt like something was missing.  This year I decided to try and make it myself and while I was grating, measuring and stirring, I was remembering my Grandma Snow.  I remembered going to her house when I was little and she would give me fig newtons.  She would show me how you could break them apart and then put them back together (I thought it was amazing).  I remembered having sleepovers and she would let me wear one of her nightgowns and she had an electric blanket in her bedroom.  I remembered her playing the piano and dancing around while she played.  I remembered her cuckoo clock hanging on the wall in her front room.  I remembered she loved to golf.  I remembered her white hair that had big soft curls.  I remembered her standing in the kitchen doing dishes after a Sunday dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, carrots, Jell-O and chocolate cake.  I remembered kneeling by her side as she sat in a chair at my Grandma Dixie's house telling her how much I loved her necklace and the next thing I knew she was putting it in my hand.  It was a nostalgic kind of day as I made the carrot pudding that she made for so many years and that I love so much!

This picture was taken when Noah was blessed and I wanted a picture of five generations (My Great Grandma Snow, my Grandma Dixie, my Mom, me and my Noah).  Pretty amazing!  

The bottom picture is of my Mom, me (I'm on the far right), my five sisters and two sisters-in-law.  In the picture I'm wearing my Grandma Snow's necklace that she gave too me. 

 

Grandma Snow's Carrot Pudding

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups shortening

4 eggs beaten with 4 tablespoons of water

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups grated carrots

2 cups raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon nutmeg

4 1/2 cups flour

5 quart canning jars

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and beat until combined.  Add lemon extract and vanilla.  Stir in grated carrots, raisins, chopped walnuts, salt, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.  Mix to combine.  Add flour and mix until combined.

Spoon mixture into quart canning jars, filling no more than 2/3 of the way full.  Cover the tops of the jars tightly with foil and steam for two hours.  Serve with lemon sauce.

Lemon Sauce

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 tablespoons flour

3 cups of water

A pinch of salt

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4-1/2 teaspoon rum extract

Dash of nutmeg

Combine sugar, flour and salt in a saucepan and stir to combine.  Add water to pan and bring to a boil.  Boil over medium high heat for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and add lemon juice, butter, vanilla, nutmeg and rum extract.  Stir to combine. 

*I was a bit freaked out when I saw that the recipe called for 2 cups of shortening.  I called my mom and she said there was no other way.

*I used a steam canner to steam my pudding, but I read a few recipes that placed the jars in a soup pot with a lid and then filled the pot with two or three inches of water, brought the water to a simmer and covered it with a lid too let steam.