Easy recipe for Sticky Toffee Pudding, made extra moist with grated apple and baked in a pool of dark toffee sauce - with more served at the table. Either serve individually or as one big pudding. Freezes well.
standard non-stick 12 cavity muffin moulds (for individual puddings) or gratin/pie dish 20x30x6cm/ 7x11x2 inches (for one large pudding)
Ingredients
Sticky Toffee Sauce:
175g (6oz/¾ cup)butter, unsalted
pinchsalt (fleur de sel, Maldon or Celtic sea salt)
250g (9oz/1½ cups)soft dark Muscovado sugarMolasses ('Vergeoise Brun' in France)
225g (8oz/1 cup)whipping cream(30% fat) or heavy cream
2 tablespoondark rum
Pudding Batter:
175g (6oz/1 cup)pitted datesroughly chopped
175ml (6fl oz/¾ cup)water
1teaspoonbicarbonate of soda(baking soda)
1tart apple (e.g. Granny Smith)peeled & grated
75g (3oz/ ⅓ cup)butter, unsalted
110g (4oz/½ cup + tbsp)soft dark brown sugar(Muscovado)
2mediumeggsorganic
150g (5.5oz/1 ¼ cups)plain flour (all purpose)
1teaspoonbaking powder(no need if use self-raising flour above)
1tsp ground ginger
Instructions
Sticky Toffee Sauce:
Melt the butter, sugar, cream and rum in a large saucepan over medium heat. Once dissolved, turn down the heat to low and stir occasionally until the sauce becomes smooth and glossy (about 10 minutes). Set aside to cool.
Sticky Toffee Pudding Batter:
In a saucepan, cover the chopped dates with the water and bring to the boil. Add the baking soda then mash until a smooth paste. Leave to cool for 10 minutes then stir in the grated apple until well combined.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/360°F/Gas 4.Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl or in a large stand-mixer until pale and creamy. Gradually beat in the eggs, flour and ground ginger. Fold in the date and apple mixture until mixed together.
Individual puddings: Pour ¼ of the sauce (about a dessert spoon) at the bottom of each muffin cavity. Top with the batter until ⅓ from the top, giving enough room for the batter to rise. Bake for 25 minutes.(Large Version: Pour ¼ of the sauce into the bottom of a buttered standard gratin dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes.)
Remove the puddings from the moulds after 5 minutes cooling and place directly on serving dishes. Reheat the remaining ¾ of toffee sauce and pour over each pudding.
Notes
The puddings freeze well. To freeze, first cool the puddings, chill then transfer to a zip-lock bag or sealed containers. I decant the rest of the sauce separately into a jam jar to freeze. Just defrost and reheat before serving.If you prefer the pudding without alcohol, then simply omit the rum.