Irresistible Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: If you have never had this, now is the time!

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce and Mincemeat Ice Cream. Can you think of a better ending to a festive holiday meal?

Three years ago I was looking for a dessert for my Christmas dinner and decided to do a Sticky Toffee Pudding. I came across a few recipes and tried them. I usually don’t do this, but I was really disappointed with the first recipe, yet was head-over-heals with the sauce. I finally developed this simple date pudding that was the perfect match to the toffee sauce. I have also adapted the sauce and cannot recall the origin of the first two recipes, so apologies for not acknowledging where my inspiration came from. Homemade Mincemeat Ice Cream is the perfect compliment to this dish and a very unique combination. This year, I will be making Homemade Tomato Mincemeat ice cream.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Mis en Place for the Pudding

Very simple ingredients. It is the sauce that brings this pudding to the realm of spectacular. These ingredients provide the cushion of texture and flavour foundation for the impact of the pudding coupled with the sauce.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Preparing the Pan

The tin really needs careful preparation: buttered and floured well. I use the removable bottom mini-cheesecake pan as I find that the finale after any Holiday meal should be grand, but small.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Making the Pudding in the Thermomix Machine

Always use the best dates you can find. Pit them. Then, combine well with water and cook for a bit to soften them up.

Baking soda is key. Look at how it puffs up once mixed into the simple water-date mixture. This is removed from the Thermomix bowl and set aside.

Into the clean bowl, the butter is creamed with the sugar.

Eggs are added and combined with the butter – sugar mixture.

The date mixture is then added back into the butter-sugar mixture and fully incorporated.

Dry ingredients are sifted over the wet ingredients in the Thermomix mixing bowl.

Dry ingredients very gently combined with the wet ingredients: above, with the machine, or below, with a spatula.

Pudding batter ready to place into the pan.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Baking the Puddings

Less than 1/4 cup goes into each mold. The puddings rise considerably, thus the generous head room left on top of each mold. If you don’t do this, you will get a very unsightly muffintop shape.

There are two colours of puddings as I used blonde dates from Palm Desert in one batch of the puddings, just for fun, to taste the difference. Conclusion? Dark is best. Medjool seem to be my favourite but the pitted dates one buys in a brick form actually taste surprisingly delicious in this pudding, as well.

This is the stately little shape I like. Just a few bites of warm gooey goodness smothered with the warm sticky toffee sauce paired with ice cream. Oooo – heaven! Now, that is a finale! I actually make these in advance, freeze individually overnight, wrap very well, label and date in bundles of 6 and freeze until needed. Now for the sauce.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Mis en Place

This recipe for the puddings actually needs more than one sauce recipe. I made two, but never double the batch in the Thermomix. You can double the batch if making on the stove top. Usually, there is none left over.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Making the Toffee Sauce on the Stove Top

Melt butter and sugar together to combine well.

Bring to a gentle boil for only a couple of minutes. Once the ingredients begin to thicken, test on a cold surface or an ice cube for thickness. It really does not take long. Then, add the cream and vanilla, stir in well, and simmer for a bit to thicken.

One batch makes over 2 cups.

I made the sauce in the Thermomix machine, as well. I could double a batch of the sauce on the stove top and it was a much faster process, but it works very well in the Thermomix, too, with less muss and fuss.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce: Baking Sticky Toffee Puddings

I had read to spoon sauce over puddings about 3/4 way into baking time. It worked, but is not necessary for the time and mess made during the process. 

There was no apparent taste difference between those made like this, or those just baked once the sauce was ladled over each, in the end. The result discovered between steaming and baking these little mini-puddings was interesting, as well.  They take much longer to be steamed with considerable more watching and effort, yet the texture and flavour difference was notably better not steamed.

Here are the mini cheesecake pans I used.

5 from 1 vote

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Sticky Toffee Pudding with Caramel Sauce

This Irresistible Sticky Toffee Pudding with Toffee Sauce and Mincemeat Ice Cream is the perfect ending to any festive holiday meal (Thermomix recipe, also available)

Course Dessert

Cuisine Canadian

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 24

Author Valerie Lugonja

Ingredients

Ingredients for Pudding:

• 1 3/4 cups or 280 grams or 10 ounces packed pitted dates
• 2 cups or 400 grams water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups or 240 grams all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 stick or 150 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup or 200 grams granulated sugar (180g)
• 3 large know-your-farmer eggs

Ingredients for the Toffee Sauce:

• 1 3/4 sticks or 200 grams or (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter (room temperature) butter
• 1 1/2 cups packed or 275 grams golden brown sugar
• 1 cup or 220 grams heavy cream
• 1/2- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla or vanilla paste

Instructions

Thermomix Instructions for Pudding (regular instructions follow):

1. Preheat oven to 375°F; butter and flour 12 mini muffin cups (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour (I use a mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms and get exactly 24 puddings from one batch)

2. Weigh 400 grams water and 280 grams pitted dates into TM mixing bowl; chop dates at 15 seconds on speed 5

3. Simmer for 5 minutes at 60ºC on speed 2; remove to another bowl 

4. Add baking soda to date mixture (mixture will foam) and rest for 20 minutes; clean and dry TM mixing bowl

5. Measure and flour, ginger, baking powder and salt into a small separate bowl 

6. Weigh room temperature butter and sugar into clean TM mixing bowl and combine for 2-3 seconds on speed 5

7. Set time for 1 minute and speed to 4; add eggs one at a time through hole in TM mixing bowl lid

8. Add set aside date mixture to sugar-butter ingredients in TM mixing bowl; combine for 5 seconds from speed 3 

9. Sift pre-weighed dry ingredients over wet ingredients in TM mixing bowl and fold into the wet mixture just until combined by hand with a spatula, or very gently for 5 seconds from speed 1-3.

10. Place less than 1/4 cup batter into individual baking cups 2/3 - to 3/4 full as mixture will rise considerably

11. Bake for 13-16 minutes, depending upon oven; cool pudding to warm on a rack (about 5 minutes) and remove to continue cooling

12. Store in a sealed container until ready to use or freeze until needed

Regular Instructions for the Pudding (without a Thermomix):

1. Preheat oven to 375°F; butter and flour 12 mini muffin cups (2 inches deep), knocking out excess flour (I use a mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms and get exactly 24 puddings from one batch)

2. Coarsely chop dates and simmer in water, uncovered, for 5 minutes in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan

3. Remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda (mixture will foam); rest for 20 minutes

4. Sift flour, baking powder, ginger, and salt together into a small bowl

5. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs 1 at a time, combining well after each addition

6. Add date mixture after 20 minutes are up and combine until fully incorporated 
   

7. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, gently incorporating after each addition until just combined
   

8. Place less than 1/4 cup batter into individual baking cups 2/3 to 3/4 full as batter will rise considerably

9. Bake for 13-16 minutes, depending upon oven; cool pudding to warm on a rack (about 5 minutes) and remove to continue cooling; store in a sealed container until ready to use or freeze until needed

Instructions for Making Toffee Sauce in Thermomix:

1. Melt room temperature butter in TM mixing bowl for 5 minutes at 60ºC on speed 2 (add 2.5 minutes if butter is cold)

2. Weigh brown sugar into TM mixing bowl and cook 20 minutes at Varoma on speed 2

3. Weigh cream and vanilla into TM bowl; simmer for 15 minutes at 90ºC on speed 1, until thickened

4. Cool sauce to warm and store in a tightly sealed container until ready to serve

5. Re-heat sauce in water bath on stove top and puddings (in microwave) before service; pour sauce over each individual portion of pudding, add ice cream and garnish with mint 
   

Instructions for Making Toffee Sauce on Stove Top

1. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart heavy saucepan melt butter over moderate heat and add brown sugar

2. Bring mixture to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally; check for hard set on ice cube (does not take very long)

3. Stir in cream and vanilla; simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15-20 minutes
4. Cool to warm and store in a tightly sealed container until ready to serve

5. Re-heat sauce in water bath on stove top and puddings (in microwave) before service; pour sauce over each individual portion of pudding, add ice cream and garnish with mint 

Recipe Notes

Make the Toffee Sauce first, as some of it must be poured over the partially baked puddings

I made  2 batches of sauce, and served this with homemade mincemeat and homemade eggnog ice-creams: TO-DIE-FOR!

Eating this is wonderful fun, but there is that moment just before eating it which is actually better than eating it.

I just don’t remember what it is called…