The awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding.

I want to write something funny and engaging to accompany this recipe but sorry, I can’t.

I am currently in a situation of what you would call, “being in a rut”, where I self-loath and watch a lot of America’s Next Top Model, subsequently hating myself even more due to the inability to stop myself from watching such a pointless, vapid show.

Tyra Banks in a white leotard speaking in robot voice to welcome her new recruits. Yeap.

Anyway, this is a recipe for a sort of healthy sticky date pudding. I say “sort of”, because while there’s no cream there are still loads of sugar involved and hence the puddings are ridiculously tasty.

# – The awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding.

The black treacle and yogurt give the pudding a depth of flavour that you can’t find in ordinary sticky date puddings.

Here’s the recipe!

For the pudding:

200g pitted whole dates

175ml of boiling water

75ml of cooking oil (plus some for oiling ramekins)

175g of flour, plus some for dusting

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of black treacle

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

100g of brown sugar

100g of plain yogurt

For the toffee sauce:

100g of brown sugar

25g of butter, cut into pieces

1.5 teaspoon of black treacle

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

100g of plain yogurt

# – First pour 175ml of boiling water over the chopped pitted dates. Leave to cool for 30 minutes.

# – In the meantime, oil the ramekins with a paper towel and dust with flour.

# – When the dates have cooled down, add vanilla extract. Followed by black treacle. Mash with a fork to form a rough puree.

# – In a bowl, mix brown sugar and oil together with a wooden spoon.

# – Add beaten eggs to the mixture and stir to combine.

# – In a different bowl, add the bicarb soda to the flour and mix with a spoon.

# – Pour 1/2 the flour into the sugar mixture and stir lightly to combine.

# – Followed by 100 grams of plain yogurt. Also stir to combine.

# – Next, tip the rest of the flour into the mixture and fold until combined. Don’t overmix!

# – Now, pour in the date puree into the mixture and stir until combined.

# – Divide the mixture into 6 oiled/floured ramekins.

# – Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celcius for 20-25 minutes.

# – While waiting for the puddings to bake, get on with making the toffee sauce. First, heat up the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium heat, constantly stirring.

# – When the sugar has completely melted, add vanilla essence. Followed by black treacle. Stir to combine.

# – Remove the saucepan from heat. Then, stir in the yogurt. Toffee sauce is now done :)

# – Remove puddings from the oven.

# – Serve in a bowl with the toffee sauce drizzled all over.

# – Awesome healthy(ier) sticky date pudding, DONE!

The pudding tasted absolutely sticky, luxurious and delicious. It’s also much lighter than it looks.

They freeze well too! When you have a craving, just pop it back into a ramekin, cover with clingfilm (but making sure pudding doesn’t touch the clingfilm) and nuke for 3 minutes at Medium High.

# – So glad I have a box of pitted dates right now in my fridge cause I need to make more!!!