Soft and tender Sticky Date Puddings made from scratch.
Ingredients
Sticky date puddings
- 220 grams (1 and 1/4 cup) dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 240 ml (1 cup) water
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and smooth
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Caramel sauce
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, roughly chopped
- 180 grams (1 cup) brown sugar
- 320 ml (1 and 1/3 cup) thickened cream or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with large paper muffin liners with high sides (see notes below).
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add dates, baking soda and water. Place on medium heat and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce the heat to low, and stir for 3-4 minutes or until dates have broken down and you have a mush of sorts. Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
- In a large mixing bowl, add melted butter, caster sugar and brown sugar. Mix using a spatula or wooden spoon until combined and smooth.
- Add vanilla and egg. Stir until combined. Finally, add flour, baking powder and salt, and ALL the date mixture.
- Gently fold until you have a thick beautiful cake batter. Spoon mixture out into muffin cases and fill right to the top. It will make 10 muffins or 8 standard pudding moulds.
- Bake muffins for 20-22 minutes or until the top springs back lightly to the touch. Or you can insert a skewer into the middle and it comes out clean.
- While the puddings are baking, make caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, add butter, brown sugar and cream. Place on medium heat.
- Stir continually and bring caramel to the boil, before turning down the heat to medium for a few minutes until slightly thickened. Stir through salt.
- Prick each pudding many times with a skewer (optional step). Pour 2-3 tablespoons of caramel over each pudding. Leave it for 5 minutes to soak in.
- Serve puddings by pouring over more caramel sauce. See below for storage and reheating tips.
Notes
Muffin liners: I use large paper muffin liners that I bought from Amazon. Alternatively, you can use regular muffin cases but your puddings won’t be quite so large, so you will likely get 12 or more smaller puddings. Keep in mind they will also bake faster. You can also make this into one large pudding if that’s easier, using an 8 or 9-inch muffin pan. This will likely take longer to bake.
Storage: Keep leftover Sticky Date Puddings in an airtight container in the fridge. Cover and store caramel sauce in the fridge too.
Freezer: To freeze, cover individual Sticky Dates with plastic wrap and place in an airtight container. Simply defrost at room temperature to serve or reheat as per below. You can also freeze any leftover caramel sauce.
Reheat: To serve leftover puddings warm, simply reheat each in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. You can also reheat the caramel in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds, or until it is returns to pouring consistency.
