Sticky Toffee Pudding

I LOVE Sticky Toffee Pudding! We love it so much that it was our wedding desert!

When we lived in England, I loved eating this wonderful desert. The mix between the moist cake and the delicious toffee sauce is simply Devine.

A few years ago, I had a co-worker, who also used to live in England, whose kid used to love fall because he called it “Sticky Toffee Pudding Season”! They had a pound of butter softening on their kitchen counter a few times a week to be ready to bake at moment’s notice. One day we were sharing our recipe and realized we both used Jamie Oliver’s recipe. I modify mine slightly to better accommodate the ingredients available in Canada.

I won two cook-offs with this recipe. So try it and get on the Sticky Toffee Pudding lover band wagon!

INGREDIENTS:

I usually double the recipe and freeze the extra puddings. They thaw very nicely in less than a minute.

THE PUDDING
225 g dates, stoned
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85 g unsalted butter, softened
170 g white sugar
2 large eggs
170 g self-raising flour
¼ teaspoon ground mixed spice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons Ovaltine (I use chocolate flavour Ovaltine)
2 tablespoons natural yoghurt

THE TOFFEE
115 g unsalted butter
75 g brown sugar
40 g molasses
140 ml 35% cream

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and butter one 12 muffins pan.
2. Put the dates in a bowl with the bicarbonate of soda and cover with boiling water. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes to soften, and drain. Puree the dates in a food processor.
3. Mix the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon and Ovaltine.
4. Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the eggs, and flour mix. When mixed, fold in the yoghurt and dates purée.
5. Pour into the muffin pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Check to prevent over baking.
6. Make the toffee sauce. Put butter, brown sugar, molasses and cream in a pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved and the sauce has thickened and darkened in colour.

You can also try the original Jamie Oliver recipe.