Sticky Date Pudding with Caramel Sauce

The first time I had sticky date pudding was at Marmalade Pantry. We were with James' friends, a couple who are true Singapore foodies. We lost touch with them following our various moves. But we are reminded of them often because we "stole" their son's name for our boy. Actually, I think THAT was the reason we "lost touch".

This is quite a straightforward recipe. Just be sure to use good quality brown sugar, especially for the caramel sauce. I like to do pudding in muffin cups and serve them right out of the oven with vanilla ice-cream (Movenpick is the best!) or Ambrosia custard. If you have any leftover, store them in an airtight container in the fridge, and heat them up in the microwave just before serving. The caramel sauce will keep in a clean glass jar with tight fitting lid, for about 2 months in the fridge. The chilled sauce will separate but come together again once heated.

Recipe adapted from Australian Women's Weekly - Cooking Class Beginners. This recipe book was given to me by my mother-in-law year ago. (Yes, I got the hint mom :O)

Makes about 8 standard size muffin cups

Ingredients
Pudding
1 and 1/2 cups deseeded dried dates
1 and 1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cooking oil spray
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (sift before using)
60g butter
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

Caramel Sauce

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
100g butter, chopped
300ml cream


Steps
For Pudding
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, grease muffin cups with cooking oil spray
2. Put dates, water and baking soda into bowl of food processor, let stand for 5 minutes. Pulse until dates are roughly chopped
3. Beat brown sugar and chopped butter in electric mixer
4. Add eggs and beat until well-combined
5. Add flour until just combined, then fold in the dates mixture
6. Using an ice-cream scoop, divide the mixture into the muffin cups and place in oven.
7. Check if the pudding is done after 30 minutes. Gently press the top of the pudding with your finger, if it feels firm, it's done. To confirm, stick a skewer in the centre of the pudding, the skewer should be greasy when withdrawn but free of uncooked mixture. If it's not done, check after 5 minutes and repeat until cooked.
8. Remove from oven, do the caramel sauce while leaving the pudding to stand

For caramel sauce

1. Place sugar and butter in saucepan over high heat, stir in the cream.
2. Once butter melts, bring sauce to a boil. To prevent it from boiling over, either lower the heat or remove pan from heat for a moment.
3. Stir sauce constantly until completely smooth

Assembly

Remove pudding from muffin cup and place upside down on place. Pour some caramel sauce over the pudding and add a scoop of ice cream / custard. Serve while pudding is still hot.



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