Name: Nadia Babar
Class Year: 2019
Country of Residence: United Kingdom

Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory? 

Thanksgiving at Mount Holyoke was always strange because I couldn’t go back home to England, as it was too short of a holiday. Every year, I found myself worrying about what I would do over Thanksgiving, but I was lucky enough to have friends who would invite me back to their homes for Thanksgiving, so every year at MHC, I got to experience Thanksgiving with a different family. During my senior year, I spent Thanksgiving with my friend Shannon and her wonderful family in Reading, Massachusetts. I wanted to contribute to our Thanksgiving feast and make something ‘quintessentially British’, so Shannon and I decided on Sticky Toffee Pudding, an extremely classic British dessert. They were a smash hit with her whole family! While we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in the UK, I now make them every year for Christmas!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Serves 12. Takes approx. 2 hours

Ingredients:

For the pudding:
225g medjool dates
175ml boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
85g softened butter
140g demerara sugar
2 tablespoons black treacle / dark molasses
100ml milk

For the toffee sauce:
175g light muscovado sugar OR demerara sugar
50g butter, cut up into pieces
225ml double cream
1 tablespoon black treacle / dark molasses

Instructions:

1. Stone and chop all dates quite small and place in a bowl. Pour over 175ml boiling water
2. Leave for about 30 minutes until cool & soaked, then mash with a fork. Add vanilla. DO NOT STRAIN.
3. Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and flour your cupcake tins.
4. Mix 175g self-raising flour and 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. Beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl
5. Beat 85g softened butter and 140g demerara sugar until slightly creamy. Add eggs little by little, beating between additions.
6. Beat in 2 tablespoons of black treacle, then fold in one-third of the flour/soda mix. Then add half the milk. Repeat until nothing left. DO NOT OVERBEAT.
7. Stir in soaked dates.
8. Spoon mixture into tins, filling until almost full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, place 175g muscovado sugar with 50g cut up butter into a medium saucepan with half the double cream.
10. Bring to a boil over medium heat, constantly stirring until sugar has dissolved.
11. Stir in 1 tablespoon black treacle, turn up heat slightly and let mixture bubble for 2-3 minutes. Stir occasionally. 
12. Take pan off heat, beat in the rest of the double cream.
13. Place puddings onto a plate and drizzle with toffee sauce.

NOTE: I recommend making these the day before, drizzling with sauce, and letting sit in the fridge overnight. The next day, simply warm them in the oven or even the microwave, warm the sauce over the stove, and serve hot with a fresh drizzle of toffee sauce. They’re even better this way!

Source: Recipe was found online somewhere (no idea where!) but we tweaked it slightly.