Date, Walnut & Mandarin Sticky Toffee Pudding

Omani perfume brand OJAR launched last year and I have been collaborating on food based projects with them since their launch. From Halwa inspired biscuits, to East meets West fusion Menus. One of my favourite puddings that I created for them over the holidays was a Date, Walnut & Mandarin Stoffee Pudding that took inspiration from the ingredients of the their scents and from traditional Omani Halwa.

Notes for baking:

• I use 200ml stainless steel ramekins. You can always do this as one big bake but note the timing for cooking may take longer.

• Make sure to butter and flour your ramekins so they don’t get stuck.

• You can finely chop the dates before boiling or add them in whole and then use a stick blender to puree them if you don’t like bits.

• Mandarins are very hard to come by in the West so good juicy Oranges are perfect for this.

Ingredients

Sponge

• 100g dates (chopped small)

• 250ml Milk

• 1 egg (beaten)

• 100g Self Raising Flour

• 45g Butter

• 1 Orange (4x mandarin if you can source) Zest & juice

• 25g Walnuts (Chopped)

• 85g Demerara Sugar

• 1 TBSP Treacle or Date Molasses

• 1 Vanilla pod or 1/2 TSP of Extract

• 1/2 Tsp Bicarbonate Soda

Caramel Sauce

• 200ml Double Cream

• 100g Golden Caster Sugar

• 75g Dark Brown Sugar

• 55g Butter (Cut into small pieces)

• 1 Vanilla pod or 1/2 TSP of Extract

• Salt

Method

1. Butter and flour your ramekins and set aside. Turn your oven on to 180°c (fan).

2. Boil the dates with milk for roughly 5 minutes till they soften. Then set aside to cool. I like to use a stick blender to puree them down so I don’t have the date bits. But that is optional.

3. Whisk the butter, vanilla & sugar till pale, then add in the egg and beat together.

4. Sieve in the flour, bicarbonate followed by adding in the orange/mandarin juice & zest, walnuts, date mix and fold in till it’s fully mixed in.

5. Pour into your baking tin or into individual moulds (3/4 of the way). Bake for 20-25mins until they are firm and a skewer comes out clear.

6. For the caramel sauce combine the sugar, butter, vanilla and half of cream and place onto boil till everything has melted together and turned to a deep brown caramel colour.

7. Remove from the heat and pour in the rest of the cream and stir well till fully incorporated.

8. Take your pudding out of the moulds, plate and pour the caramel over. Feel free to serve with custard or ice cream and enjoy!