Description
One afternoon we asked our followers on Twitter to tell us their favourite comfort dessert. We then chose one to make in class. The winner was a sticky toffee pudding, which we elevated by adding Bailey’s to the sauce, in honour of my mother, who is Irish. Serve with your favorite ice cream, such as Calvados Apple Ice Cream.
Scale
Ingredients
Sticky toffee puddings
- 1 cup dates, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature plus more, softened for brushing the muffin tins
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- Two eggs, beaten
Bailey’s caramel sauce
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 3 tablespoons whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish cream
Instructions
Sticky toffee pudding
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter 4 cups in a muffin tin. (I used ramekins because my muffin tins are horrifically abused and too small. See note for more.)
- Place the dates, coffee and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring often for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat, stir in the baking soda and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
- Stir together the flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Place the butter, sugar and eggs in a medium bowl and beat together until well combined. Beat in the flour mixture, then stir in the dates. Spoon enough batter into each muffin cup to fill it 1/2 full.
- Bring the large kettle of water to a boil. Set the muffin tin into a large roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan half full of water, so it reaches halfway up the sides of the muffin tin. Bake on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325°F, and continue baking until the skewer inserted into the centre of the putting comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack to cool. Run a knife along the inside edges of the muffin tins to unmold the puddings.
Bailey’s caramel sauce
- Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the cream and Irish cream and allow to boil gently until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
To serve
- Place the puddings on individual plates with generous lashings of hot caramel sauce.
Notes
This recipe is excerpted from The Dirty Apron Cookbook by David Robertson (Figure 1 © 2014 )
The muffin tins required here are not the standard 12-well tins. These hold closer to 1 cup of batter. If, like me, you don’t have big-muffin tins and/or yours are a bit too well-used, you can use ceramic ramekins instead. The cooking time might take a bit longer.