a brief food interlude...

Namely as I haven't had the chance to pick up my developed films yet :(
I was intending my next post to be about my first B&W rolls through the super ikonta but you'll have to wait...

so anyways...
Last week when I was grabbing some lunch from Woolies (Safeway) at QV - I noticed the current Donna Hay magazine. Now I'm not particularly a Donna Hay fan - maybe it has something to do with the Courier-Mail/Daily Telegraph syndication. Maybe it's because I don't find her stuff usually that inspiring (although the food styling & photography is normally pretty good).

So anyway I decided to make her sticky date pudding from the current issue.

The end result:

Let's just talk about rich! The amount of butter in this pudding is somewhat scary...

The recipe:

2 1/2 cups (210g) chopped pitted dates
1 cup (250ml) boiling water
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda
100g butter, chopped
3/4 cup (135g) brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising (self-rising) flour

toffee sauce
150g butter (chopped)
1 cup single (pouring) cream
1 1/2 cups (265g) brown sugar

preheat oven to 180C (355F). Place the dates, water and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Place the date mixture in the bowl of a food processor with the butter and sugar and process until just combined. Add the eggs and flour and process until just combined. Pour into a lightly greased tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Cut into squares.

Watching the dates, baking soda & water fizz was fun :) It was like science at work

To make toffee sauce, place butter, cream and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter is melted. Bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Spoon over puddings and top with cream.

Boil butter & cream - is this person crazy!!!! But it does work - it's just a case of standing there and waiting for the worst!

Not sure if I will make it again due mostly to the richness... but as I never made it before - it was interesting...