English Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky toffee pudding drenched in aromatic rum sauce and garnished with a Christmas tree-shaped ginger cookie.  It’s simple, festive, and tastes totally decadent…

Pudding

To a small saucepan add:
8 oz chopped pitted dates
1½ cups water
Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for a couple of minutes.

Cream together:
1/3 cup butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs beat in one at a time beating well after each addition.

Add in and beat well:
3 tbsp. molasses
2 tbsp. golden syrup

Sift together:
1 2/3 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in three equal portions mixing until smooth after each addition.

Puree the date mixture in a food processor before mixing in:
1 tsp. baking soda
Add this to the batter and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into well-greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Do not over fill the muffin tin, you want to avoid a “muffin top”. When making this dessert it’s better to err on the side of slightly under-baked rather than over-baked. They should be removed from the oven as soon as the centers are firm.

Divine Rum Sauce

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup heavy cream
2 oz Ironworks Distillery rum (or black rum)

Melt the brown sugar and butter together in a large pot over medium heat. Allow to come to a rolling boil and cook for 2 minutes. Add the cream in a slow steady stream, this will cause a  bit of sputtering, once the cream in incorporated stir in the rum and bring back to a boil, allow to cook for another 5 minutes keeping an eye to ensure that it does not boil over. Serve warm and refrigerate any leftovers.

Recipe provided by:

 Chef Alain Bosse, the Kilted Chef
This dessert was served at Victorian Christmas at Sherbrooke Village
(original recipe taken from www.rockrecipes.com)