This recipe started life as a Sticky Toffee Pudding. We began experimenting with the flavour profiles to make it less about the toffee and more about the flavour of the dates, even substituting the very sweet toffee sauce for gjetost – a whey cheese from Norway that has a distinctly sweet, caramelised flavour. Through development and research into the key ingredients, we created this unique and heart-warming dessert that reflects our style of cooking. We've written up our recipe so you can try it at home!
Recipe makes equally well as a tray bake or individual pudding basins - so use whatever you have at home or prefer.
Makes 6-8 125g puddings:
85g unsalted butter
85g muscovado sugar
35g date syrup (any other sugar syrup would do in replacement)
2 eggs
200g pitted fresh Medjool dates, chopped
65g dried figs, chopped
200ml water
Heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda, sifted
Dry ingredients:
16g ground coffee
10g smoked flour - we smoke our own, but you can get this from Bacheldre Mill
156g malted granary flour
35g plain flour
1/4tsp salt
Heaped tsp baking powder
Sift all these dry ingredients into a large bowl to aerate the flour, and then add the sifted malt grains back into the mix.
Gjetost:
100g gjetost (you can get this from a deli)
50g milk
To serve:
Dollop of high-quality crème fraiche
Scoop of apple sorbet
Method:
Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
Line your 5oz pudding basins with butter and then baking parchment, or dust with flour.
Add the dates, figs and water to a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes to soften the fruit and then leave to one side.
Beat the butter, sugar and date syrup together until the mixture turns pale (either with a mixer or by hand).
Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat them until combined. Sieve the egg mix to make sure there are no bits of shell.
Alternate adding your eggs and sifted dry ingredients into the butter and syrup mix until a smooth batter forms (in three additions is usually good).
Have your bowls, cooking vessel and oven ready as this next part of the recipe requires a swift action to ensure the raising power of the bicarbonate of soda is most effective.
Make your date, fig and water mix hot again by warming it back through on the hob. Add the bicarbonate of soda once hot and stir.
Quickly add this to your flour, egg and butter mixture, and combine. Spoon the batter into your moulds and put in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
For the gjetost:
Warm milk through gently and then remove from the heat. Pour the milk over the gjetost and whisk it until smooth. Leave to cool.
Once your puddings are cooked, remove them from the oven. Turn out the individual puddings onto a plate and drizzle more date syrup over the top to soak in. (If you’re making a tray bake, drizzle it straight over the top in the tray).
Serve with the gjetost, a dollop of crème fraiche and a scoop of apple sorbet.
We hope you enjoy trying this recipe at home. Share your pud pictures with us by tagging @thegreenmanpubrest on Instagram!