Recipe: Sticky Toffee Pudding

 At one point over a weekend, this was all I could think of.

I personally thank the English for this. What a yummmmmmy treat. For some reason, I woke up one day instantly craving for this. Yes, specifically this. So the next grocery run, I went straight for the dates.

The first time I tasted this was more than a decade ago. It was my birthday and my aunt (Tita Maritess) made me the most amazing sticky toffee pudding. I honestly wanted more than one slice but I was just too full having just had steak for dinner. It was sweet, velvety, nutty, and just sooo comforting to eat. I think I was able to take home half the cake and I devoured it in 2 days. Of course, the sugar crashing came with it. 

In North America, "puddings" usually refer to a creamy and semi-liquid dessert enhanced by either dairy or gelatine. So safe to say, this did not originate from there. The English once again blessed us with this wonderful dessert. I seriously think I was supposed to be born European. It's said to have come about from northwest England. Not too sure as to when though as there have been claims to it surfacing in the 1940s as well as the 1970s. There was even a claim that the Canadians had a hand in this. In any case, this dessert just warms me up inside. It's perfect for autumn and winter. You could say, "It's a perfercly splendid." (Yes, I quoted that little girl from that series we binged on. And yes... it's The Haunting of Bly Manor. And yes, I love horror films and shows.)

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Sticky Toffee Pudding
I was able to make 12 cupcakes with this. I used a cupcake baking pan so they're served individually. You can also use a square pyrex dish or a 9x9 square pan. 

You'll need a cupcake pan, some bowls, a sauce pot, cupcake liners, a spatula, a whisk, a hand mixer, and a food chopper/processor (optional, you can chop up the dates manually by knife). 

For the Pudding Cups

1 cup/240g/8 ounces pitted dates
1 cup hot water
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch or 1/8 tsp salt
1 stick of butter, unsalted, room temp

2 tbsp molasses

1/3 cup brown sugar (if you can use dark brown sugar, better)
2 eggs, large, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

For the Toffee Syrup

1 cup heavy cream (I used 35%)
1 stick of butter, unsalted
3/4 cup brown sugar

Optional for topping

Devonshire cream or custard

Icing sugar for dusting

Procedure

1. Preheat your oven to 350℉. Line your cupcake tin with liners and set aside. 

2. Using a food processor, pulse the dates until they're finely chopped. Transfer the chopped dates in a medium bowl and add the hot water and baking soda. Mix this thoroughly and set aside for 10 minutes.

 

3. In small bowl, stir together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). Set aside.

4. In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the molasses and vanilla then the eggs one at a time and continue creaming. Add the dry ingredient mixture in 2 parts until fully incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl as you go. 

 

 

5. Add the dates mixture and continue beating for 1-2 minutes on low speed (you can do this by hand also, just use a whisk so you can control the speed).

 

 

6. Using a 1/4 cup, divide the batter into the 12 cupcake cavities - evenly spread this out to all 12. Pop in the oven and bake for 18 minutes (20 max). 

 

7. While these are baking, we can make the toffee syrup. In a small sauce pot, heat up the butter and sugar until dissolved and there's a slow bubble. Add the heavy cream and continue to mix - let this reduce until it's a nice caramel colour with a slightly thick consistency. You don't want to over cook this, it will harden and further reduce, you want a sticky sauce so you can drown your puddings in it and soak up all that toffee goodness.

 

 

 

8. Let the pudding cakes cool on a wire rack. Before serving, peel off the liner. Spoon good amount of the toffee syrup on a plate, lay the pudding cup on it, and top with a good helping of the toffee syrup. top with Devonshire custard and a dusting of icing sugar. 

 

9. Enjoy!!!! I just made my servings an upside-down cupcake. So that there's more base to soak up the syrup. 

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*I specifically made individual cups so I can portion the servings and control myself from eating the whole batch. If you did want to make it using a square pan or a bundt pan, you can. Just half the toffee syrup - half to place on the bottom of the pan after baking, so it pudding soaks up the syrup. And the other half as topping. 

**If you want to add something extra, you can top it off with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream. Hhhmmmmm...... There are other recipes that have a darker end product. You could definitely up your molasses or use a darker brown sugar. 

***This will keep for several days in the chiller. Just remember to heat it up before serving. 

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