Sticky date puddings & lush caramel sauce
This recipe (from my first cookbook At My Table) is the ultimate in dessert indulgence and just so perfect for a chilly night in. Soft, sweet, buttery pudding enrobed in a gorgeous caramelly sauce – it’s pudding done properly! And I think it should be served with a large scoop of ice cream on the side, because the contrast between hot and cold really take it to the next level. If you’d like to add another nice bit of texture, you could roast some walnuts, pecans or almonds at 180c for 10 minutes, toss in a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Then chop and scatter over the puddings.
If you’re gluten-free, you can substitute gluten-free flour mix quite happily in this recipe.
Serves 6
Prep time – 20 minutes
Cooking time – 40 minutes
Ingredients
Puddings
1 cup water
400g pitted dates, chopped roughly
150g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup plain flour (or use gluten-free flour mix)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
Caramel sauce
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
50g butter
1 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c conventional bake, and grease either ramekins or a large baking dish with butter.
Add the water, dates, butter, golden syrup and sugar to a large saucepan over a medium-high heat. Stir, bring to the boil and let boil for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. Leave to cool for 15 minutes or so or until warm.
Add the baking soda to the date mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to combine.
Sift in the flour and cinnamon, and add the eggs. Stir the mixture until everything is combined evenly.
Spoon the mixture into ramekins, to the top (or one larger pie or baking dish) and bake in the oven for 35 minutes (15 minutes longer if in a large dish).
To make the caramel sauce, heat all the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat until dissolved, stirring. Increase the heat, bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes or just until the sauce turns a lovely golden caramel colour.
Pour the warm sauce over the pudding/s and serve with lovely cold creamy ice cream.
