The Easy Date

When it comes to pastries and desserts, I definitely hang up my apron strings. The long standing feud between dessert & savory chefs is most likely true - I have never met one who is an expert in both.

However, it's imperative that every savory chef have a couple of desserts on their repertoire, and vice versa. It makes no sense to say to your dinner guests, "sorry, I don't do dessert" after a nice meal. It's almost as sacrilegious as not serving wine with dinner.

I've worked to perfect a few desserts that I can call on for any occasion, and am striving to extend myself as a dessert chef (apprentice is a more appropriate word) as well.

One of my favorite dessert ingredients to work with is the ancient date. It's no wonder the date has been a staple and favorite in many cuisines of old, what with the sticky, chewy, and sugary flavor. Most of the dates that we get over here are dried, which concentrate the flavor even more; although I did have the opportunity of savoring a fresh date when I was in Israel, and it is quite delicious as well.

It's an extremely versatile fruit to work with, and not only that, but as there are so many different varieties, just using a different type of date can give dessert a new twist.

One of my stock date desserts is the sticky date pudding, first introduced to me in Australia, where the dessert is exceedingly popular, although I first attempted this only a few years back.

I do not make my pudding particularly sticky. I kind of relish the lighter, spongy texture; but this is because the butterscotch/rum/brandy/toffee sauce that it's served with is severely thick and rich that it works for a nice balance.

It's also such an easy dessert that you can make it just hours ahead to serve it warm or at room temperature. If you're in a pinch and want to do this ahead, it's not a big deal. Just make sure the sauce is thoroughly warmed before generously lathering it over a slice of pudding.

Here's the recipe:

Sticky Date Pudding
Serves 8

1 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 cup Dates, pitted & chopped
1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 cup Boiling Water
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Brown sugar
2 ea Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
4 Tbs Butter, melted

Preheat oven to 300F
Combine dates and baking soda
Pour water over baking soda and leave to soak for 15 minutes
Remove half of the dates and set aside
In a blender, combine the remaining dates and liquid, as well as all the other ingredients, except the flour
Blend until mixture is well combined
Pour liquid mixture into flour and stir until batter is uniform
Stir in the reserved dates
Pour batter into well buttered 8" cake tin, and place tin in a water bath
Cover water bath tightly with cling wrap (yes it can go in the oven)
Carefully place pudding in oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until pudding is puffed and springs back when lightly pressed
Serve with Toffee sauce (recipe below)

Toffee Sauce recipe
16 oz Butter, chopped
1 1/2 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Heavy cream

In a heavy saucepan melt the butter until it foams
Add the brown sugar and stir until sugar dissolves
Add the cream and cook until sauce thickens slightly or to desired consistency



This post is especially for Laura S my Bar Method instructor!
- It makes no sense because iPad spellcheck is dense

Location:Middlefield Rd,Palo Alto,United States