Sticky Toffee Pudding

What Scotland may lack in savoury choices, it makes up for in its puddings/desserts. The most popular menu board selection is definitely Sticky Toffee Pudding. It's everywhere. You can buy it pre-made and it's delicious, or you can try your hand at this super simple recipe. 

Faithfully adapted from Nigella Lawson:

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingredients

for the cake

• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 1 ¼ cups self-raising flour
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
• 1 ½ cups chopped dates

for the sauce

• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• approx. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (in little blobs)
• 2 cups boiling water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5/375ºF and butter a 1½ litre / 6 cups capacity pudding dish.
2. Combine the 100g / ½ cup of dark muscovado sugar with the flour in a large bowl. Pour the milk into a measuring jug, beat in the egg, vanilla and melted butter and then pour this mixture over the sugar and flour, stirring - just with a wooden spoon - to combine. Fold in the dates then scrape into the prepared pudding dish. Don't worry if it doesn't look very full: it will do by the time it cooks.
3. Sprinkle over the 200g / 1 cup of dark muscovado sugar and dot with the butter. Pour over the boiling water (yes really!) and transfer to the oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes, though you might find the pudding needs 5 or 10 minutes more. The top of the pudding should be springy and spongy when it's cooked; underneath, the butter, dark muscovado sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce. Serve with vanilla ice cream, creme fraiche, double or single cream as you wish.

Claudia was the designated taste tester and chose cream as her topping. I went with creme fraiche because it's delicious and cuts through the sweetness. I seriously don't know why creme fraiche is so hard to find in Canada. It's in the corner shop and costs about 60 pence a pot here.
Anyway, I put it in a mug instead of a bowl because I love my mugs and the warmth of the pudding just calls out for a cuddle.  Claudia, obviously, approved.