With fall weather in full force here, and winter on its way, my food thoughts are turning to comfort food: stews, baked casseroles, and of course, desserts that really feel like dessert!.
One of my favourite desserts is sticky toffee pudding, which I usually steam (not bake), and top with delicious toffee sauce. I started thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard to modify my usual recipe to make it gluten-free, and as it turned out, it wasn’t.
This doesn’t take too long to pull together, and I guess you could bake it rather than steam it, but I don’t think the texture is the same. This has a nice fluffy texture, but is incredibly moist, chock full of dates. The sauce is a basic butterscotch sauce with a splash of good rum added, just because!
Gluten-free Sticky Toffee Pudding
Makes 4 individual puddings
Preheat oven to 350 °F. Put a kettle on for boiling water.
- 2/3 cup whole dates, pitted and sliced
- 1/4 c + 2T warm water
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
Combine half the dates with the warm water and the baking soda, and let stand for 5 minutes to soften the dates
- 1/4c + 2T packed brown sugar
Combine the remaining dates with the brown sugar in a small food processor, and pulse until the sugar and dates are combined, and the dates are well chopped.
- 1/2 c + 2T gluten-free flour mix* (90 grams)
- 1/4 tsp. baking powder
- 3/8 tsp. xantham gum
- 1/4 tsp. salt
Combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk until everything is combined
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 T. unsalted butter, melted
In a medium bowl, whisk (or mix with a hand mixer) the egg until it is foamy and begins to lighten in colour. Add the brown sugar and dates from the food processor, and continue mixing. Add the butter and vanilla, and the liquid from the soaking dates, and then add the dry ingredients. Mix well until everything is combined. Fold in the reserved date slices and portion into 4 buttered and floured ramekins.
Place the ramekins into a baking dish, and pour boiling water around the ramekins until about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the baking dish with a greased piece of foil, making sure that the sides are crimped down, ensuring the steam doesn’t escape.
Bake for 35 minutes, until the puddings are puffed and spring back in the centres. Remove from the water bath, and let cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the ramekins.
- 4 T. unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 c. heavy cream
- 1 T. dark rum
For the sauce, combine the melted butter with the brown sugar in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar melts and starts to bubble. Reduce heat and simmer for about 2 minutes before adding the heavy cream and the rum. The mixture should bubble up. Continue whisking, and simmer for another 2-3 minutes until the sauce starts to get glossy bubbles. Remove from heat, and keep warm.
To serve: Invert each pudding to remove from the ramekin. Divide the toffee sauce among the four pudding, and pour overtop.
* I use a gluten-free flour blend consisting of 2 parts garfava flour, 1 part millet flour, 3 parts potato starch and 3 parts tapioca starch. Each cup of this blend weighs 144 grams.
