Friday's Feast: Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Serves 6

Ingredients
6 oz. whole dates (stoned) (appx. X cups)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbsp. instant coffee (can use 2 tbsp. strong brewed coffee instead, but adjust water amount)
1 tsp. vanilla

Soak the dates in a bowl with 3/4 cup of boiling water, the instant coffee, vanilla and baking soda. Leave to cool completely. When cooled, remove dates and chop fine, placing chopped dates back in the water mixture when finished.

75g Softened Butter
200g Light Soft Brown Sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp dark molasses (in UK: black treacle)
6 oz. Self Raising Flour (directions to make self-raising flour below)
(optional) 75g of Pecan Nuts or Walnuts, chopped

Ingredients - Sauce
6 oz golden brown Sugar
1 stick Butter
6 Tablespoons of Whipping Cream (in UK: Double Cream)
(optional) 50g Chopped Pecan Nuts or Walnuts


Sticky Toffee Puddings: Sweet, sticky, rich and delicious. Serve with cream or vanilla ice cream. You can make individual puddings, however, these will only need 25 minutes cooking.

Method

Soak the dates in a bowl with 175ml of boiling water, the coffee essence and bicarbonate of soda. Leave to cool completely.

Pre-heat the oven 350˚. Grease a large pudding basin (1 Litre capacity) with butter. Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat the eggs and add to the butter and sugar a little at a time continuing to mix until smooth. Beat in the molasses (or black treacle). Fold in the flour to the mixture with the chopped nuts, if using, and add the cooled dates mixture (including the water). Mix well with a wooden spoon until smooth and evenly combined. Pour into the greased pudding basin and cover with greased foil or non-stick foil. Bake in the oven for one hour 20 minutes. Check if cooked by inserting a knife or skewer, if it comes out clean the pudding is cooked. (I cooked mine in two 1/2 liter pyrex bowls, they were done in about 45 minutes.)

To prepare the sauce put the brown sugar, butter, nuts (if using) and cream in a saucepan and heat gently mixing all the time until smooth. Bring to the boil and remove from the heat. This only takes a few minutes, so it is best to do right before serving or you can reheat the sauce easily in the microwave.










Remove the foil from the pudding and turn out onto a serving dish. You can pour over the sauce or cut the pudding into wedges and serve with the sauce separate. Or you can do both! It is helpful to poke the whole cake with a fork several times before adding the sauce, that way it will soak up more. Don't forget the vanilla ice-cream, it does wonders for cutting the richness of this decadent dessert.

Make your own Self-Raising Flour:

1. In a large mixing bowl, measure 6 cups of flour.
2. Add 3 tablespoons baking powder.
3. Add 1 tablespoon salt.
4. Either sift together or mix with a wire whisk until well combined.
5. Can be stored in airtight container for months.


p.s. My apologies for not converting all the measurements. If you have a kitchen scale, it won't be a problem. If you don't .... well, it could get tricky. Leave it in the comments, if you'd like me to send you an email when I convert them. We are off to Devon for the weekend, so I will be incommunicado until Monday, so be patient! xoxo