Sticky Toffee Pudding

You have to make this.

You must make this.

Now…or soon!

It will change your life.

I am in love with this dessert.

Did you know when Mr. Wonderful and I met, he had a long stern talk with me about how frequently I used the phrase “I love”?

I tend to use it on everything, from my dogs to a food that is especially wonderful. “Oh my gosh, I love this necklace!”, or “I love that puppy!”

I think he was thinking that when we used those words to each other for the first time, he’d think he was another dessert.

He actually is…kind of…the sweet and perfect ending to every day.

But seriously, I loveeeeeeeeee this dessert.

Sticky Toffee Pudding is a British dessert consisting of a warm, moist, light cake topped with a extremely decadent toffee caramel sauce.

Dates – do not be scared off by dates in this recipe.  I taste tested this on two teenage girls who had no idea they were in there.  They were licking out the bottom of the bowl when I dropped the news on them that they had just eaten dates.  They looked like I’d just told them they’d eaten castor oil or something.  They didn’t even know!

You’ll need one-half of a package of chopped dates (an 8 ounce package). Also start your tea kettle up and boil some water. If you want to make this particularly special, heat up some brandy in a saucepan and use 1/2 cup of it  instead of water (You’d still use one cup of water and 1/2 cup of brandy).

Put the dates in your food processor. Add in a tablespoon of strong coffee or espresso (liquid not the granules), one-fourth teaspoon vanilla extract, and one-half teaspoon of baking soda. Put on the lid and pulse it a couple of times. Through the top of the food processor, pour in three-fourths of a cup of hot water from your tea kettle and pulse several times.

There will still be some chunks of dates. That’s what you want – a dark, muddy-like, liquidy-brown mixture with chunks of dates floating in it.  Pour this into a pitcher and let it sit while you make the batter.  The dates will begin to soften.

In a mixing bowl, toss in six tablespoons of butter with two-thirds of a cup of sugar. Turn on your mixer and beat on a pretty high speed for a couple of minutes or until it gets pale yellow in color and fluffy.

Add in two eggs, one at a time, beating a little bit after each one to mix them up real good.

Now turn your mixer down to the lowest speed. Add in three-fourths of a cup of flour, and one teaspoon of baking powder, just until the flour mixes in somewhat, and then pour in your date mixture. You want to slowly mix this until it’s all mixed together. If you prefer, you can just hand mix it at this point and fold it all together.  Just don’t overmix.

Spray a muffin tin liberally with baking spray.  I use an ice scream scoop and spray it with this stuff also to scoop this into my muffin tins. Only fill them about halfway full. They will rise up due to the baking soda and powder. Bake at 350º for about 15 minutes. Check them at 12 and see if the middle is firm. If not, put them back in for another 3 minutes.

Remove them to cool.

While your pudding muffins are baking, make your sauce. You are going to adore this sauce.

It is liquid heaven.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt 2 sticks of butter with 1 1/2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar. Keep whisking over medium-high heat until it begins to froth up, about 3-4 minutes. When that happens, pour in 3/4 cup of heavy cream and whisk well. **Optional -add in 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.  When you add the cream and whisk, your sauce will become smooth and silky and wonderful.

Pour your sauce into a bowl or a serving pitcher.

Oh my gosh, don’t make the mistake I did and taste this right away. You will want to drink it with a straw!

I highly recommend serving this in a good size dish or bowl that will hold plenty of this sauce.

Start with one warm pudding muffin.

Ladle over some of your warm toffee sauce. You want the sauce to really soak into your pudding muffin.

 

 

 

Put on a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

 

And drizzle a little more sauce over top of the ice cream.

For a more petite version, flip the muffin upside down, ladle some sauce over top.  Use a medium-size cookie dough scoop this time to scoop your ice cream.  Then ladle on more caramel sauce.

You can’t even imagine how delicious this is.

 You must make this I’m tellin’ ya. Or you’ll never know what it is to live. Katie’s Printable Recipe – Sticky Toffee Pudding

Cooking with Love, ~Katie