By Emily
We recently had this dessert at Pastis, a well-known French restaurant in the meatpacking district of NYC. It was so good, so I went home and went thru cookbooks and online to find out how it was made. This recipe is a collaboration of a couple I found, but mostly comes from a cookbook that advertises cooking with kids, with a couple changes I made according to my taste (salted butter, vanilla, etc). Although, I must say this recipe is not quick and easy (only because there are a lot of steps, and hot sticky toffee sauce) and I cannot imagine wanting to attempt baking this with my kid: Sticky Toffee Toddler anyone? But, it IS delicious.... little moist cakes ("puddings") drenched in warm toffee sauce. Yum... It's a dessert for a special occasion.
You'll Need:
Pudding "Cakes":
1 8oz container of Medjool dates, or 1 c. (take the pits out)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
5 TB butter at room temp
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Toffee Sauce:
2 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 c. sugar
1/3 c. corn syrup
4 TB butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Vanilla ice cream for serving
To Make Cakes:
Preheat to 350F
Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.
Combine the dates and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer until most of the water is evaporated. In a food processor or blender, puree the mixture until smooth and creamy looking (at least 1-2 minutes).
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and baking soda and set aside.
In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for at least 2 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and fully incorporate. Scrape down the sides as needed.
Add the flour mixture slowly until just incorporated, then add the date puree slowly and mix thoroughly.
Spoon the batter into the buttered muffin cups. They should be 3/4 full so they don't get too big. Bake for 20-23 minutes (check with a toothpick). (and start the toffee sauce while they bake) Once finished baking, let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Pudding "Cakes":
1 8oz container of Medjool dates, or 1 c. (take the pits out)
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
5 TB butter at room temp
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
Toffee Sauce:
2 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 c. sugar
1/3 c. corn syrup
4 TB butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Vanilla ice cream for serving
To Make Cakes:
Preheat to 350F
Butter a 12 cup muffin tin.
Combine the dates and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Simmer until most of the water is evaporated. In a food processor or blender, puree the mixture until smooth and creamy looking (at least 1-2 minutes).
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and baking soda and set aside.
In a mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for at least 2 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and fully incorporate. Scrape down the sides as needed.
Add the flour mixture slowly until just incorporated, then add the date puree slowly and mix thoroughly.
Spoon the batter into the buttered muffin cups. They should be 3/4 full so they don't get too big. Bake for 20-23 minutes (check with a toothpick). (and start the toffee sauce while they bake) Once finished baking, let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
To Make Toffee Sauce:
In a Saucepan over Medium heat, combine 1 1/4 c. of the cream and the rest of the ingredients minus the vanilla. Cook approx 40 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon or whisk often, until the mixture becomes a dark brown caramel color. You may need to change the heat, I had to keep it Med/Low compared to the original recipe I was following. It should stay at a constant slow bubble.
In a Saucepan over Medium heat, combine 1 1/4 c. of the cream and the rest of the ingredients minus the vanilla. Cook approx 40 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon or whisk often, until the mixture becomes a dark brown caramel color. You may need to change the heat, I had to keep it Med/Low compared to the original recipe I was following. It should stay at a constant slow bubble.
Once finished, remove from the heat, add vanilla extract, and let cool for 15 minutes.
Once the sauce is finished and the muffins have cooled, slice off the top of the muffins (just a thin slice so they lay flat when plated upside down). Then slice each cake thru the middle. Spoon about 2 Tbs of the sauce in the bottom of each muffin cup. Return bottom cake layer back to the muffin cup on top of the sauce. Spoon 2 more Tbs of sauce on top of this, then top with other half of muffin and cover again with more toffee sauce so they are soaked. Muffin tin will be messy and maybe overflowing with sauce, so I put the tin under a large piece of wax paper for easy clean up. Repeat until all muffins are returned to tin and covered in toffee sauce. You can wrap the muffin tin and refrigerate for 3 days. When ready to serve, you can reheat at 400F for about 10 minutes.
Pop out the cakes from the muffin tin, inverted onto a plate using a little spatula or a similar utensil, careful not to burn yourself from the hot toffee sauce.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.
