Famous Sticky Date Pudding From The Lake District Recipes

STICKY DATE PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter a 9-inch, high-sided baking pan.
• Place the dates in a saucepan, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook for three minutes. Add the baking soda, and set aside.
• In a bowl, cream one stick of butter, sugar and eggs, adding the eggs one at a time. Gently fold in the flour, the salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Slowly stir in the baking powder and 1/4 cup of the date cooking liquid, until the cake mixture resembles thick pancake batter. (Discard the rest.) Stir in the dates. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cooked in the center.
• Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining a stick of butter, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, the brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer, and cook for three minutes.
• To serve, drizzle some of the sauce over the cake as it is cooling. Serve the rest of the sauce separately. Garnish with whipped cream if desired.

STICKY DATE PUDDING

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and chocolate in a small bowl, and set aside.
• Bring the dates and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda. Allow the mixture to stand for 5 minutes, then scrape into a blender, and carefully puree until smooth; set aside.
• Cream 1/4 cup of butter together with the superfine sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the flour mixture and the date puree until well blended. Spoon into the prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the cream, brown sugar, and 1 cup of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until the butter melts; set aside.
• When the puddings have baked for 25 minutes, remove them from the oven, and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove the puddings from the muffin tin, and place them onto a baking sheet. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the sauce over each pudding, then return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more.
• To serve, spoon some of the sauce onto the bottom of a dessert plate, and place a pudding on top. Lightly dust with confectioners' sugar, and top with a 1/4 cup scoop of ice cream. Repeat with the remaining date puddings.

STICKY DATE & GINGER PUDDING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Lightly grease a deep 2-litre (about 28 x 20cm) oval baking dish. Tip the dates into a pan, pour over the milk and bring up to scalding point. Remove from the heat, add the vanilla essence and bicarbonate of soda, then leave to one side. Sift the flour and ginger into a bowl, then add the sugar, butter and eggs. Beat with an electric whisk for about 5 mins. Fold in the date mixture and stem ginger, then pour into the baking dish.
• For the sauce, sprinkle the sugar over the pudding batter, then drizzle with the syrup. Pour 250ml boiling water over (do not stir), then bake for 40-45 mins until the pudding is firm to the touch. Serve spoonfuls of the pudding with a generous helping of syrupy sauce from the bottom of the dish. Great with vanilla ice cream or pouring cream.