Toffee or not Toffee

So this Paul Hollywood guy knows what's up. This is the second time in the last couple of weeks I've used one of his recipes and he has not let me down. The first was my Christmas Morning croissants which I will remake and blog about another time as I was too ill to take pictures (but not too ill to bake!)

  My parents were having a friend over for dinner as one of their five yearly social engagements and seeing as though I'm currently unemployed and bored out of my tree I volunteered to make dessert. It would both keep me entertained and allow me to check one of my "to make" items off my list. I picked a sticky toffee pudding as I've been wanting to try my hand at it for awhile and also if I can be in England, I can at least eat English food with my eyes closed and pretend. In which case I usually pretend I'm being fed by Prince Harry in my country estate wearing Jimmy Choos because, hey, dream big.

The recipe is pretty simple, I cut it in half as we've been on dessert overload since Christmas and didn't need any leftovers. I also took out a couple ingredients that were either difficult to find or not to people's tastes.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

• PUDDING
• 175g/6oz dates, chopped
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 75g/2½oz unsalted butter, softened
• 150g/5½oz soft dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Preheat your oven to 180C/350F and butter a 24x26cm (9½x10½in) baking tin.
• Put the dates in a bowl, pour on 200ml/7fl oz of boiling water and stir in the baking soda.
• Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the egg, beating well. Fold in the flour and baking powder then stir in the dates and their water.
• Pour into prepared pan, spread evenly and bake for 20-30 minutes until firm.
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• SAUCE

• 100g/3½oz unsalted butter
• 150g/5½oz soft dark brown sugar
• 150ml/5fl oz whipping cream (double cream)
• Melt together the butter, sugar and cream in a saucepan over a low heat. Bring to the boil and let bubble for 3-4 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Not too long though or it will get hard when it cools and you'll have real toffee!
• Preheat your grill (broiler) to high. Make holes all over the cooked pudding with a skewer. Pour some of the sauce over the pudding and place under the hot grill. Grill for 2-3 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn!
• Serve immediately with remaining sauce. 

Recipe adapted from here.

 I had some leftover sauce which I must say is delicious drizzled over freshly popped popcorn and paired with a nice Early Grey the next day.

-Holly