RECIPE – Lighter Sticky Toffee Pudding!

So I was watching Jamie Oliver’s Comfort Foods series today and he made sticky toffee pudding and I thought PHWOAR, I really fancy one.

So it then became a mission of mine to find a sticky toffee pudding recipe where the calories had been reduced. I succeeded and found one on BBC Good Food. However, I reckoned I could cut the calories even more, and I have.

Now one thing to remember is, this is sticky toffee pudding. It isn’t going to be light, ever. But, it is lightER!
Per serving, this is about 350 calories which, for a small pudding you may not think is worth it.In comparison, Jamie Oliver’s recipe contains just under 600 calories per serving!

And actually, those muffin tins can pack a good, hearty serving. It will fill you up for sure.

350 calories of oozy, sweet goodness. YUM! Definitely worth that extra cardio session 😉

 

So here is what you will need to make this indulgent dessert.

(makes 8)
350 calories per serving

You will need:

For the sponge:

• 200g medjool dates 
  Bear in mind, these have stones in, don’t forget to take them out!
• 90g light spread such as Lurpack
• 175g wholemeal self-raising flour
  Plus extra for dusting the tin
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50g demerara sugar
• 1/4 tsp stevia sweetener
• 100g fat free natural yoghurt

for the Toffee Sauce:

• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 25g light spread such as Lurpack
• 1½ tsp black treacle
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 100g half-fat crème fraîche
  The crème fraîche does alter the taste of the toffee sauce slightly (It’s a bit sour) But it is so delicious, and works wonderfully with the sponge. If you’d prefer, you can use double cream, but remember to add on the extra calories too!

 

So, to begin, we want to chop up the dates, add the vanilla extract and soak them in 175ml of boiling water. Jamie Oliver soaks his dates in earl grey tea. You could do that if you like tea. I don’t like tea (I know…) So water is also fine.

Leave it to soak for about 30 minutes and then use a fork to mash it all into a lumpy puree.

Preheat the oven to 160 fan (gas 4)
Grease and flour 8 muffin holes in a muffin tin. Make sure you use a muffin tin not a cupcake tin, they are too shallow. To flour a tin, add a teaspoon of flour into each hole and then over the bin, or the sink, gently turn the tin onto its side and tap. Move the tin round so the flour sticks onto every side. Then turn upside down and discard of any left over flour.

Next lets make the sponge mixture. Begin by beating the eggs in a glass. Then, melt the butter.

In a large bowl, mix the sugar and melted butter together until combined. Then add the egg, a little bit at a time.

Mix the flour and the bicarbonate of soda together and add about a third of it to the mix. Fold this in gently. And bear with at this point. It looks proper lumpy and all you want to do is whisk the living daylights out of it. No. Fold and fold and eventually it will go smooth. Then add half the yoghurt and fold. Repeat flour, fold, yoghurt, fold and then finish with the last bit of flour.

You may notice at this point, the mixture goes really foamy? Aerated? It looks like honeycomb. Now I’m not a scientist but I think this is the acid in the yoghurt reacting with the bicarb. This is what gives the sponge air and makes it light, so we need to work quickly to get them in the oven.

Fold in the date mixture.

And now put the mixture in the tin. You should be able to make 8 generous muffins. The mixture will reach the top of the tins, that is fine.

Bake for 20 minutes until spongy on the top and a skewer comes out clean. Leave the muffins to cool in the tin.

While the muffins are cooking you can make the sauce.

NOW… don’t do what I did and misread the recipe and use demerera sugar instead of muscovado. It won’t dissolve. Silly Nom.

So, once you’ve cleaned the pan out after your failed first attempt, melt the butter and sugar over a gentle heat.

The mixture will become thick, like fudge and the sugar doesn’t actually dissolve properly at this point. Don’t panic, you’ll still end up with a wonderfully smooth sauce (don’t ask me how. magic?)

Don’t let the mixture boil too much or it could burn.

Take off the heat and stir in the black treacle and the vanilla essence and then leave to cool for a couple of minutes. It will go quite hard at this point. Again, don’t panic!

Stir in the crème fraîche a teaspoon at a time. The first addition will loosen up the mixture perfectly and then the rest will mix in like a breeze.

Now you can either get the muffins out of the tin, pour over the sauce and devour straight away, or you can actually make both the muffins and the sauce up to 2 days in advance. I can imagine the muffins also freeze well. Not sure about the sauce. To warm up, just put in the microwave (with the sauce) for 1 minute.

So there you go. Low(er) calorie sticky toffee pudding!

YUM

 

RECIPE

(Serves 8)
350 Calories per serving

For the sponge:

• 200g medjool dates, pitted 
• 90g light spread such as Lurpack
• 175g wholemeal self-raising flour plus a bit extra for dusting
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 50g demerara sugar
• 1/4 tsp stevia sweetener
• 100g fat free natural yoghurt

For the toffee sauce:

• 25g light spread such as Lurpack
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 1½ tsp black treacle
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 100g half-fat crème fraîche
  

 

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 160 fan (Gas 4)
• Grease and flour 8 muffin cases.

To make the sponges

• Chop the dates, add vanilla extract and soak in 175ml boiling water for half an hour.
• Whisk eggs in a cup
• Melt butter in the microwave then add to a large bowl with the sugar. Mix
• Add the eggs gradually
• Mix the bicarbinate of soda with the flour and add 1/3 to the butter, sugar, egg mix.
• Fold in gently. Be patient here.
• Next add half the yoghurt and fold.
• Repeat, flour, fold, yoghurt, fold and finish with the last 1/3 of flour.
• Mash the dates and water together to form a lumpy puree.
• Add to the mix and fold in.
• Pour into 8 muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

To make the sauce

• melt the butter and the sugar in a pan until combined and thick.
• Don’t allow mixture to boil or it may burn.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the treacle and the vanilla extract.
• Leave to cool for a few minutes.
• Stir in the crème fraîche a teaspoon at a time. You may want to use a whisk.
• Serve the sponges, drizzled with the sauce
• Or store sponges in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

 

note: when washing a pan that you have melted sugar in, place back on the hob with boiling water in and bring to the boil. This should remove any hardened sugar and will be easier to clean!