I had never heard of sticky toffee pudding before coming to England and because I’ve always been a chocolate girl it took me years to try it; that was a gross error of judgment. It makes me sad to think of all the delicious puddings I’ve missed out on through the years.
There are thousands of recipes out there, claiming to be the best ever sticky toffee pudding recipe… or the easiest… or the most healthy… yeah those one especially make me laugh, it’s TOFFEE pudding people… that means sugar and butter and well… you know where I’m going with that…
If you want healthy make fruit salad… and come back another day… this is not for the faint hearted. I blame my friend Mrs C for this evil recipe.
It’s super easy, has never let me down and its perfect for dinner parties when you need to get things ready in advance and don’t want to leave the table for too long (and miss all the fun!), the only thing you need to do is warm up the sauce and serve, which you can do whilst sipping wine and looking the part of the gracious part of the ‘effortless’ host that you are. Of course.
Let’s get going, first warm up your oven to 180C or 350F, and oil 8 non stick ramekins really well with groundnut oil. Don’t miss this step thinking the non-stick coating will suffice. You’ve been warned.
for the puddings:
3oz of butter at room temperature
5oz of caster sugar
6oz of chopped, pitted dates
2 large eggs lightly beaten
6oz of self-raising flour (sifted)
6 fl oz of boiling water
1/2tsp of vanilla essence
2tsp of coffee essence
3/4tsp of baking soda
Place the chopped dates in a bowl with the hot water, add the vanilla and coffee essence and then the baking soda. Leave to one side.
In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy, gradually add the beaten eggs beaten well after each addition.
Carefully and slowly fold in the sifted flour with a metal spoon and when it’s all mixed well add the dates mixture.
The batter will be very wet and quite frankly sloppy, it’s fine, that’s exactly what you want.
Divide the mixture equally between the 8 oiled ramekins and place on a baking sheet and into the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
Leave for 5 minutes to cool slightly after they’re cooked and then carefully slide a knife around them an remove to let them cool down completely (or eat the straight away)
When it’s time to serve them I warm them in the over for a while, usually whilst we’re having the main course. (not too hot an oven… you don’t want to dry them out)
for the sauce:
6oz of brown sugar
4oz of butter
6tbs double cream
1oz chopped pecan
Put all the ingredients in a sauce and slowly melt stirring constantly. You can do this straight away and warm the sauce just before serving or place all the ingredients in a saucepan and prepare it whilst the puddings re-heat. It makes no difference.
I always make double quantity of the sauce too, which sounds insane… but the most disappointing thing is to ran out of sauce … trust me, I’ve been there and it’s gutting.
Pour rivers of hot sauce (and pouring cream AND/OR vanilla ice-cream ) and … buon appetito.
You’ll never look back.
while you're ahead... 