Sticky Toffee Pudding

Apologies for the lack of posts so far this year, my mum has been extremely unwell since Christmas and I’m not sure when I will be posting regularly again as I am still in Cornwall.

To tide you all over until normal service is resumed, here is the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe I was saving for the end of January when everyone’s resolve had waned due to the cold and wet weather.

I absolutely love this recipe and once again the BBC Good Food website is the source of this fabulous dessert. I often make this when people are coming over in winter as the puddings and sauce can be made the day before and reheated when ready to serve. Below you will see I used rectangular 200ml ‘mini loaf’ cake pans as I don’t have proper pudding moulds so I have included the quantities and timing for different sized tins.

Makes 8x 175ml capacity pudding basins, 7x 200ml pudding basins or make one big pudding in a 1.5 lt ovenproof dish
Ingredients
For the pudding:
225g whole Medjool dates, stoned and finely chopped
175g boiling water
1 tsp vanilla extract
85g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
140g demerara sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp black treacle
175g self-raising flour, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100ml milk

For the toffee sauce:
175g light muscovado sugar
50g butter, cut into pieces
225ml double cream
1 tbsp black treacle

Cream, vanilla ice cream or custard to serve (optional)

Add the chopped dates and boiling water to a small saucepan and simmer for 5-10 minutes until the dates soften and start to break down, mash with a fork and stir in the vanilla extract then set aside to cool.

Butter and flour the pudding basins or oven proof dish and set on a large baking tray. Pre heat the oven to 180c or gas mark 4.

To make the pudding, cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl and once pale in colour, add the eggs a little at a time, beating well before adding more. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a separate bowl. Beat the treacle into the creamed mixture and then fold in half the flour and half the milk with a metal spoon. Repeat again with the remaining flour and milk being careful not to over mix.

Stir the soaked dates and any remaining liquid into the pudding mixture – it may look at bit curdled at this point but should be a soft, think batter. Divide evenly between the pudding moulds and bake for 15-20 mins for 175ml moulds, 20-25 mins for 200ml moulds and 25-30 mins for one large shallow pudding, until risen and firm.

While the puddings are baking, put the sugar and butter for the toffee sauce in a medium saucepan along with half of the cream. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring continuously until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Stir in the black treacle, turn up the heat slightly and let the mixture bubble for 2-3 minutes until it is a rich toffee colour, stirring occasionally to make sure it doesn’t burn. Take the pan off the heat and beat in the rest of the cream.

Remove the puddings from the oven, leaving them in the tins to cool for a few minutes before loosening them with a small palette knife and then turning them out. You can serve them now with the hot sauce drizzled over or store the sauce in a bowl in the fridge and the puddings in an airtight container until ready to serve. Individual puddings with a large spoonful of cold sauce on top can be reheated on a microwaveable plate for around 60 seconds on high.

Alternatively, they’ll be even stickier if left for a day or two coated in the sauce. To do this, pour about half the sauce into one or two ovenproof serving dishes. Sit the upturned puddings on the sauce, then pour the rest of the sauce over them. Cover with a loose tent of foil so that the sauce doesn’t smudge (no need to chill).

When ready to serve, heat oven to 180C or gas 4. Warm the puddings through, still covered, for 15-20 mins or until the sauce is bubbling.