Lemon-Date Pudding

In Southern cooking, dates show up in all sorts of breads, pies, puddings, and, of course, dark fruitcakes, and one of the most popular canapés found at snazzy cocktail parties is dates stuffed with cream cheese. I was served this particular pudding at a stately home in Charlottesville, Virginia, prepared, no less, by the family’s private chef for an elaborate Christmas buffet. Suffice it to say that it’s nothing less than sumptuous. Like bread-and-butter pudding, this one almost has to be