Leftover Dessert - Walnut Tartlets / Sticky Date Pudding Revisited
ETA: I'm debating between either a chocolate souffle or a molten chocolate lava cake for my next dessert. What do you think I should make?
I've been showing recipes for main dishes with my freezer/pantry leftovers but it is possible to make desserts as well. And not just the French vanilla ice cream decorated with chopped, candied walnuts or toasted sliced almonds and orange sauce that I've enjoyed several times in the last week or so.
If you recall from my last post, I intended to make chicken pot pie a couple of days ago and I was going to use the pastry scraps (I rarely throw anything away) from my quiche/lemon meringue pie making as a top crust for individual pies. Even though my plans changed, I still had the defrosted pastry in my fridge. Inspiration struck today when I ran across the last of the butterscotch sauce I'd made for Sticky Date Pudding. The candied walnuts came from the pear and blue cheese salad and quiche posts.
The recipe below will make enough filling for 2 3-inch tartlets. I thought the filling would be too sweet but I was pleasantly surprised.
Easy to prepare, fast and tasty ... what more you want in a leftover makeover?
Walnut Tartlets - serve 2
2 3-inch pastry shells, unbaked
1/4 cup candied walnuts, coarsely chopped (regular walnuts or pecans are good too)
1 large (1/4 cup) egg
1/4 cup home-made butterscotch sauce
Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Just a few simple ingredients.
Whisk together the egg and butterscotch sauce. Divide the chopped nuts between the two tart shells and pour half of the filling (1/4 cup) into each shell.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center is set. The filling puffs up during baking but will compress as it cools.
Serve with a scoop of creme fraiche if you absolutely need something to go along with your tartlet but it doesn't really need it.
NOTE: If you don't have any nuts, try some raisins, currants or finely chopped dried fruit. Whatever you have in your pantry.
I couldn't decide what to use to eat the tartlet with ... a spoon or a fork. Either works. :)
I just realized that I had never posted the actual recipe for the Sticky Date Pudding and Butterscotch Sauce so I'm including it in this post. I re-organized the instructions just a bit to make the recipe easier to follow.
Sticky Date Pudding - serves 8
Date Pudding - prepare the dry and wet portions separately then combine.
Wet/Date portion:
270g (1 1/2 cups) deseeded dried dates
312ml (1 1/4 cups) water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60g (1/4 cup) butter, roughly chopped
Dry portion:
2 large (1/4 cup each) eggs
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
188g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
Butterscotch Sauce:
180g (3/4 cup plus 2 tsp, firmly packed) brown sugar
300ml (1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) cream (35-40% fat)
25ml (1 tbsp plus 1 tsp) golden syrup or corn syrup
25g (1 tbsp plus 1 tsp) butter (we use salted butter)
NOTE: 1 cup of plain AP flour + 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder + 1/2 tsp of salt = self raising flour. Make 2 cups and use 1 1/4 for recipe above.
Using baking spray or softened unsalted butter, prepare a 20cm (8 inch) diameter round springform pan and line the base and side with parchment paper.
Making the Sauce - instructions below
Begin making the sauce about 10 minutes before the pudding has finished baking.
Making the Cake
1) Date filling portion of cake:
Place dates and water in a small saucepan over high heat. When the mixture starts to boil, add bicarbonate of soda and 60g butter, and
remove from the heat. Stir and then set aside for 25 minutes (the butter will melt during this time).
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 deg F). Adjust the oven rack to the lower half of the oven so the top of the pudding will be in the centre of the oven.
Place cooled date mixture in a food processor. Pulse the mixture a few times to form a chunky paste.
Add eggs and vanilla to date mixture and pulse a couple of times until just combined.
2) Dry ingredients of cake:
Stir the flour and 150g (2/3 cup) firmly packed brown sugar together in a medium bowl. Break up any lumps of brown sugar with a fork or the back of a spoon. Add the date mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold the ingredients together until just combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
If, when baking, the pudding starts to get too brown, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
Bake the pudding for about 50-60 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre. A toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding should come out without any batter attached.
Leave the pudding in the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Using a skewer, pierce several deep holes in the pudding. Pour about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the hot butterscotch sauce over the pudding. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
Reheat sauce if necessary. Serve pudding with hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.
Store leftover pudding and sauce in the refrigerator or freezer (freeze the sauce separately). Suitable to reheat.
Butterscotch Sauce
Place sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir the mixture over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside until required.
I've been showing recipes for main dishes with my freezer/pantry leftovers but it is possible to make desserts as well. And not just the French vanilla ice cream decorated with chopped, candied walnuts or toasted sliced almonds and orange sauce that I've enjoyed several times in the last week or so.
If you recall from my last post, I intended to make chicken pot pie a couple of days ago and I was going to use the pastry scraps (I rarely throw anything away) from my quiche/lemon meringue pie making as a top crust for individual pies. Even though my plans changed, I still had the defrosted pastry in my fridge. Inspiration struck today when I ran across the last of the butterscotch sauce I'd made for Sticky Date Pudding. The candied walnuts came from the pear and blue cheese salad and quiche posts.
The recipe below will make enough filling for 2 3-inch tartlets. I thought the filling would be too sweet but I was pleasantly surprised.
Easy to prepare, fast and tasty ... what more you want in a leftover makeover?
Walnut Tartlets - serve 2
2 3-inch pastry shells, unbaked
1/4 cup candied walnuts, coarsely chopped (regular walnuts or pecans are good too)
1 large (1/4 cup) egg
1/4 cup home-made butterscotch sauce
Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Just a few simple ingredients.
Whisk together the egg and butterscotch sauce. Divide the chopped nuts between the two tart shells and pour half of the filling (1/4 cup) into each shell.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the center is set. The filling puffs up during baking but will compress as it cools.
Serve with a scoop of creme fraiche if you absolutely need something to go along with your tartlet but it doesn't really need it.
NOTE: If you don't have any nuts, try some raisins, currants or finely chopped dried fruit. Whatever you have in your pantry.
I couldn't decide what to use to eat the tartlet with ... a spoon or a fork. Either works. :)
I just realized that I had never posted the actual recipe for the Sticky Date Pudding and Butterscotch Sauce so I'm including it in this post. I re-organized the instructions just a bit to make the recipe easier to follow.
Sticky Date Pudding - serves 8
Date Pudding - prepare the dry and wet portions separately then combine.
Wet/Date portion:
270g (1 1/2 cups) deseeded dried dates
312ml (1 1/4 cups) water
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
60g (1/4 cup) butter, roughly chopped
Dry portion:
2 large (1/4 cup each) eggs
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
188g (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour
150g (2/3 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
Butterscotch Sauce:
180g (3/4 cup plus 2 tsp, firmly packed) brown sugar
300ml (1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons) cream (35-40% fat)
25ml (1 tbsp plus 1 tsp) golden syrup or corn syrup
25g (1 tbsp plus 1 tsp) butter (we use salted butter)
NOTE: 1 cup of plain AP flour + 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder + 1/2 tsp of salt = self raising flour. Make 2 cups and use 1 1/4 for recipe above.
Using baking spray or softened unsalted butter, prepare a 20cm (8 inch) diameter round springform pan and line the base and side with parchment paper.
Making the Sauce - instructions below
Begin making the sauce about 10 minutes before the pudding has finished baking.
Making the Cake
1) Date filling portion of cake:
Place dates and water in a small saucepan over high heat. When the mixture starts to boil, add bicarbonate of soda and 60g butter, and
remove from the heat. Stir and then set aside for 25 minutes (the butter will melt during this time).
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 deg F). Adjust the oven rack to the lower half of the oven so the top of the pudding will be in the centre of the oven.
Place cooled date mixture in a food processor. Pulse the mixture a few times to form a chunky paste.
Add eggs and vanilla to date mixture and pulse a couple of times until just combined.
2) Dry ingredients of cake:
Stir the flour and 150g (2/3 cup) firmly packed brown sugar together in a medium bowl. Break up any lumps of brown sugar with a fork or the back of a spoon. Add the date mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold the ingredients together until just combined.
Pour batter into the prepared pan.
If, when baking, the pudding starts to get too brown, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
Bake the pudding for about 50-60 minutes, or until it springs back when lightly pressed in the centre. A toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the pudding should come out without any batter attached.
Leave the pudding in the pan and allow it to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Using a skewer, pierce several deep holes in the pudding. Pour about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the hot butterscotch sauce over the pudding. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before removing from the pan.
Reheat sauce if necessary. Serve pudding with hot butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.
Store leftover pudding and sauce in the refrigerator or freezer (freeze the sauce separately). Suitable to reheat.
Butterscotch Sauce
Place sauce ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir the mixture over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside until required.