Part 1 in a 3 part video series

Please note: although this recipe states it makes 6 servings, I actually ended up with 16 puddings of varying sizes. I think that had I used the large white ramekins throughout, I would have got 12 puddings.

Ingredients required to make ’6′ servings:

Pudding:

480g/17oz dry dates
780ml/1.65 pints/3.3 cups/26.38 fl oz water
12g/0.42 oz baking powder
180g/6.35 oz unsalted butter
420g/14.82 oz brown sugar
9 eggs
300g/10.58 oz plain flour
vanilla essence (dash)

Toffee Sauce:

90g/3.17 oz walnuts (shelled)
270g/9.52 oz brown sugar
150ml/0.31 pints/0.63 cups/5.07 fl oz double cream
180g/6.35 oz unsalted butter
vanilla essence (dash)

Utensils required:

Kitchen scales
Measuring jugs
Oven
Mixing bowls
Chopping board (or a food processor)
Kitchen knife
2 Saucepans
Whisk (or a food processor)
Rubber spatula (or other suitable untensil)
Baking parchment/greaseproof paper
12 large ramekins
Tea towel/oven gloves
Wooden spatula (or other suitable utensil)

Steps:

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/356F
2. Softening the butter.
2a. Get a mixing bowl
2b. Put 180g/6.35 oz of unsalted butter into the mixing bowl and warm it at room temperature to soften it
3. Chopping the dates
3a. Get a chopping board and a kitchen knife (or a food processor)
3b. Chop the 480g/17oz of dates into small pieces, discarding any seeds. (I bought dates that were already de-stoned and roughly chopped)
4. Chopping the walnuts
4a. Chop the 90g/3.17 oz of walnuts into small pieces
5. Mixing the eggs
5a. Get a mixing bowl
5b. Break 9 eggs into the bowl and beat them
6. Preparing the ramekins
6a. Get the 12 large ramekins and baking parchment/greaseproof paper
6b. Cut pieces of baking parchment/greaseproof paper to line the bottom and sides of each ramekin dish
6c. Line the inside of each ramekin dish with the baking parchment/greaseproof paper (I find it easier if you also smear the insides of the ramekins with a litlle butter/margarine to help the paper stick to the sides)

Cooking:

7. Boiling the dates
7a. Get a saucepan
7b. Put all the chopped dates and 780ml/1.65 pints/3.3 cups/26.38 fl oz of water into the saucepan and place it over a high heat
7c. Continue heating the dates and remove the pan from the heat once the liquid has come to the boil
7d. Mix in 12g/0.42 oz of baking powder and let the mixture stand for about 8 minutes
8. Making the pudding mix
8a. Get a whisk (or food processor)
8b. Add 420g/14.82 oz of brown sugar to the already softened butter in the mixing bowl
8c. Mix the butter and brown sugar with the whisk (or food processor) until completely blended
8d. Stir the egg into the mixture well, adding one third at a time
8e. Add 300g/10.58 oz of plain flour (I recommend sieving the flour first to avoid lumps) to the mixture and fold it in using a rubber spatula or other suitable utensil
8f. (You may need to split your mixture so far into two bowls at this point, as it may not all fit in one bowl) Stir in the dates, their juice and a dash of vanilla essence. Remember to add an equal quantity of dates to each bowl if you have divided the mixture up
9. Filling the ramekins
9a. Pour the pudding mixture into each of the prepared ramekin dishes, leaving about 1cm at the top so the puddings can rise without spilling over
10. Bake the puddings in the oven preheated to 180C/356F for approximately 45 minutes
11. Making the toffee sauce
11a. Get a saucepan
11b. Put the walnuts in the saucepan and mix in 150ml/0.31 pints/0.63 cups/5.07 fl oz of cream
11c. Add 270g/9.52 oz of brown sugar and 180g/6.35 oz of butter, then place the pan over a moderate heat
11d. Heat while stirring well with a wooden spatula. When the mixture boils, turn to a low heat and simmer for about 3 minutes.
11e. Remove from the heat and add a dash of vanilla essence
12. Taking out the pudding
12a. Once the puddings have baked, remove the ramekin dishes from the oven and cover each with a plate
12b. Carefully hold the dish and plate with both hands (remember your tea towel/oven gloves). Turn them over and then remove the ramekin dish. Repeat for each pudding
13. Serving
13a. Remove the baking parchment/greaseproof paper from each pudding and then place them on your serving dishes the right way up.
13b. Pour over the toffee sauce and the sticky toffee puddings are ready to serve. I personally like to also add some vanilla ice-cream to mine, but feel free to experiment!

Duration : 0:9:32

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