Tipsy Pudding

Ingredients

For the Pudding:
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ cups fine dry bread crumbs
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
For the Mulled Wine:
2 ½ cups red wine
2/3 cup superfine sugar
4 whole cloves
Wide strips of zest and juice from 1 lemon
Wide strips of zest and juice from 1 orange
1 stick of cinnamon
1 cup heavy cream, whipped, for serving

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease eight 2-inch deep and 3 ½-inch wide ramekins with butter. Evenly coat the insides of the ramekins with 3/8 cup of bread crumbs. Set aside.
Beat egg yolks, half the sugar and lemon zest in medium bowl until pale and frothy. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually add remaining sugar to egg whites and beat until well mixed. Add ¼ of egg white mixture to yolk mixture and stir to combine. Fold remaining egg white mixture and bread crumbs into yolk mixture until well combined. Divide batter among ramekins and bake on a cookie sheet until puddings are cooked through and golden, about 25 minutes. Allow pudding to cool for five minutes then turn out on a rack to cool completely.
For the Mulled Wine: Put wine, sugar, cloves, lemon and orange zest and juices and cinnamon into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, over medium high heat. Reduce to medium low heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain wine, discard solids and set aside to cool.
Arrange cooled puddings into a 9- by 13-inch glass casserole dish and drizzle with all of the mulled wine. Cover with plastic wrap and allow pudding to soak (it won’t absorb all of the wine), spooning wine over each pudding occasionally until moist through, about 2 to 3 hours. Serve pudding in shallow bowls, sitting in some mulled wine and topped with a dollop of whipped cream.