Date Paste Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky toffee pudding is already a recipe built around dates. We just took it to its logical conclusion.

Traditional recipes call for chopped dates that you soak and blend anyway — essentially making date paste by hand halfway through the method. We skipped that step, used our Tunisian Deglet Noor date paste directly, and replaced the brown sugar too. What came out of the oven was the most intensely flavoured sticky toffee pudding we have ever made. Darker. More complex. With a depth of caramel that no amount of refined sugar can replicate.

The toffee sauce takes five minutes and uses date paste as its base too. Once you try this you will not go back to the original.

Why Deglet Noor date paste for this recipe

Medjool dates are the common choice for sticky toffee pudding — they are sweeter and softer. Deglet Noor date paste brings something more interesting: a drier, more concentrated caramel flavour with a slight nuttiness that deepens under the heat of the oven. The pudding tastes less like candy and more like something genuinely sophisticated. That is the Tunisian difference.

Ingredients — Pudding

• 3/4 cup (180g) Aurum Date Paste
• 3/4 cup (180ml) boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
• 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp fine salt

Ingredients — Date Toffee Sauce

• 1/4 cup (60g) Aurum Date Paste
• 1/2 cup (120ml) full-fat coconut cream (or heavy cream)
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of fine salt

Method — Pudding

1. Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish generously with butter.
2. In a bowl, whisk the date paste with the boiling water until smooth and loose. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda — it will foam slightly. Set aside for 5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add vanilla.
4. Pour the date mixture into the butter mixture and stir to combine — it will look curdled and uneven. That is fine.
5. Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt until just combined.
6. Pour into the prepared dish and bake 28-32 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
7. While the pudding bakes, make the toffee sauce.

Method — Date Toffee Sauce

1. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine date paste, cream, and butter.
2. Stir continuously for 4-5 minutes until the butter melts and the sauce is smooth, glossy, and slightly thickened.
3. Remove from heat, add vanilla and salt. The sauce thickens more as it cools — if it gets too thick, add a splash of warm water and stir.

To serve

While the pudding is still warm, prick the surface all over with a fork or skewer. Pour half the toffee sauce directly over the pudding and let it soak in for 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve with the remaining sauce poured over each portion. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and try to look calm about it.

Storage

Pudding keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or refrigerated for a week. The sauce keeps refrigerated for up to 10 days — reheat gently over low heat with a splash of cream. The pudding also freezes beautifully — wrap individual squares and freeze up to 3 months.

Made with: Aurum Tunisian Date Paste