Tonight for dinner was Toad-in-a-hole and peas, with sticky toffee pudding for dessert. The Yorkshire puddings were swiftly devoured, so no pictures, but I have pictures for the sticky toffee puddings, as well as recipes for both!
sticky toffee pudding
In pan, looking less than attractive.
sticky toffee pudding
mmm, dates.
sticky toffee pudding sauce
The sauce should be darker, but I used golden sugar rather than dark.
sticky toffee pudding
Ready to eat!
sticky toffee pudding
Mmmm.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
makes 1 large pudding
Pudding:
1 c. pitted chopped dates
1 1/4 c. boiling water
1 tsp. baking soda
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
2 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten
1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Toffee Sauce:
2/3 c. packed soft dark brown sugar
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 c. light cream
an ovenproof baking dish, about 3 pints capacity, greased
Preheat oven to 350°F.
To make the pudding, put the dates and the boiling water in a small saucepan or heatproof bowl, then stir in the baking soda and let soak until needed.
Put the butter in a mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and vanilla essence, and beat until very well combined. Pour a little of the eggs into the mixing bowl and beat well. Keep adding the eggs, a little at a time & beating well, until all the eggs have been used up.
Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl. Stir gently a few times to half-mix in the flour, then pour the date and water mixture into the bowl. Carefully mix the whole lot together to make a runny batter.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45ish minutes, until done & browned on top.
While pudding is baking, make toffee sauce. Put sugar, butter, and cream into a small saucepan. Set over low heat, stirring now and then until melted, smooth, and hot.
Remove pudding from oven and serve warm with hot toffee sauce. Any leftovers can be reheated and served again.
(The sauce also benefits from the addition of various alcohols - brandy is good, as is any orange liquer.)
Mum's no-fail Yorkshire pudding
Makes 9 puddings, or 12 Toad-in-a-hole
Grease 9 large muffin cups. Beat 1 c. milk and 3 Tbsp. melted butter into 3 eggs, slightly beaten. Then beat in 1 c. flour and 3/4 tsp. salt.
Put 1 tsp. hot beef fat into each cup, and fill 3/4 full with batter. Bake at 375°F for 40 minutes.
Things to remember:
Make sure the oil/fat in the pan is hot! I never grease the muffin tins (I have really good non-stick ones), but I always put the fat in them first, stick that in the preheated oven, and then take it out and fill the cups up with batter.
Any sort of sausage works well for Toad-in-a-hole - this time around we used smokies, cut in half and then browned to get a crispy outside. Mum uses moose sausage. Next time, I think I'll make these as a breakfast dish, and use maple breakfast sausages.
This is basically what these look like, for anyone who doesn't already know:
(not my pic, but it gets the point across)