HI! I put in here the Canadian best prices... I don't actually buy apples right now because they are not quite in season and very expensive, even at lower cost stores. Dairy and eggs are expensive here, too compared to USA.
The basic comment that OP made is that you need to calculate the price of your favorite recipes per serving. So true! I did this for the 10 common recipes at our house, and it really helps to see where one ingredient is a huge cost to the overall dish, and helped me to understand how expensive produce really is most of the year.
I think this is the same recipe (Plenty More).
Esme Old Fashioned Pudding
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This hot and sweet pudding, with its super-crusty almond topping, is normally cooked for hours in an Aga using windfall apples. Savour this romantic image even with my real-world adjustments. With thanks to Esme Robinson for remembering this from her childhood, and for letting me shake up the old school with the addition of rhubarb and sage. --
100g unsalted butter, softened (Approx 1/3 cup butter $0.78; don't substitute as butter gives a ton of flavour to the topping)
160g dark muscovado sugar (WTF? okay, just use brown sugar $0.25)
100g ground almonds ($1.28 to $1.68 per 100 g yes, canada sells in lb and kg! I have to do a lot of math here when I shop...)
1 egg ($0.27 each)
700g cooking apples, peeled, cored and roughly grated (550g) @ $1.30 per lb, =$2.00
250g trimmed and sliced rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces (Free? or $2)
50g demerara sugar (?why why with the special sugars? $0.25)
40g fresh breadcrumbs (Free or from the stale bread sliced ends, $0.20 Buy day old bread and make your own, lasts a long time in your pantry)
10g sage leaves, roughly chopped (Sage lasts forever, tiny amount here... maybe $0.15 for dried? I find fresh too powerful to use in just about anything... I grew it one year and developed a dislike for fresh)
250g Greek yoghurt (Make own for $1.25; buy for $3)
Serves 4-6
Price:Total: $4.45 CDN to $9 CDN
Price per unit (assume 5 servings) $0.90 to $1.80
So, I would say that a combination of shopping choices and / or using the cost of the larger package, even though a smaller amount was used, may be the culprit. The restaurant dessert would NOT have a topping with 100% almonds instead of flour or oatmeal crumbs, plus greek yogurt plus a lot of fresh fruit, as they need to make money, too. Also, funny, is that the intro describes using windfallen (scrub / free) apples is the traditional way to use this dish.
From the costs breakout above, it is easy to see where the costs came from.
I recommend using white sugar in the fruit, brown in the topping, dried sage, and something other than greek yogurt for the creaminess (sour cream or creme fraiche is classic for fruit desserts). Watch out for produce seasonal pricing, and substitute a different fruit or more apples, use a granny smith green apple instead for the rhubarb if local supply is pricey. Find recipes that use EITHER expensive fruit OR Greek yogurt OR Almonds, etc. Oh, and regift that cookbook to someone who likes to spend money and would love to see "different" recipes.
TLDR: One expensive ingredient per dish is all that is needed to show off, and it will cut your cooking costs dramatically. Get to know what the expensive ingredients are....