Life is sweet
What’s not to love about sticky toffee pudding? And this version has the added appeal of being cooked in a slow cooker – giving you maximum flavour with minimum fuss!
Serves 6
Takes 8 hours on low
INGREDIENTS:
- 125g butter
- 250g dates, stoned
- 125ml boiling water
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 275g brown sugar
- 325ml double cream
- 5 tbsp treacle
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 200g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- Sea salt
To serve
- Clotted cream, custard or ice cream
- Preheat your slow cooker on low for 10 minutes and make sure your pudding bowl fits into your slow cooker when the lid is closed. Grease your bowl with 1 tbsp of the butter and line with baking paper.
- Put the dates in a heatproof bowl. Cover with the boiling water and leave to soak for 30 minutes.
- Put the vanilla extract, 80g of the sugar, the cream, half the treacle and half the butter into a pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Carefully turn up the heat and cook for 3 more minutes. Whisk the mixture and add a pinch of salt. Pour about a third of the mixture into your lined bowl, leaving the rest to reheat later for your sauce.
- Remove the dates from the bowl, reserving the water, and roughly chop. In a mixing bowl, stir together the remaining sugar, treacle and butter with the beaten eggs. Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ¼ tsp of salt, the dates and the soaking water. Spoon into the pudding bowl, leaving about a 1cm gap at the top. Cover with a greased layer of baking paper and a layer of tin foil, then make a central cut to allow the steam to escape and tie with some string.
- Place the bowl in your slow cooker. Boil the kettle and pour in the water to fill halfway up the side of the bowl. Close the lid of the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
- Remove the pudding from your slow cooker and turn out onto a serving plate. Reheat the remaining sauce to pour over your pudding. Serve with clotted cream, custard or ice cream.
Clare Andrews, bestselling author of The Ultimate Air Fryer Cookbook, is back with more budget-friendly, time-saving and delicious meals, in The Ultimate Slow Cooker Cookbook, published by Penguin Michael Joseph, priced at £20, with photography by Danielle Woods.
