Without a doubt, this is one of the yummiest desserts that I make!

A couple of years ago, Mom and I did a garden tour of England. Beyond touring the gardens, it was an ‘eatfest’! Mom and I would walk a thousand miles, if we heard that a particular restaurant was worth the journey!

On our last evening in London, we had dinner at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub. After a huge portion of fish and chips, we both ordered the sticky date pudding. Mom loves to chat up the servers. “Does the pudding have lots of dates in it?”

Our server never batted an eye and with his lovely British accent said, “find a date, win a prize!”

We roared with laughter.

However, he was not kidding. The pudding was tasty but I would attribute that more to the warm caramel sauce then the one well – chopped date in my dish!

Typically, I use fresh orange zest in this recipe. I used the soft candied peel for this post because I had just finished making a batch. Fresh or homemade peel are both delicious. Do not use commercial orange peel!

The batter makes a large pudding. I divide the pudding between three smaller pans so that I can serve smaller groups without having leftovers. If you want some for later, use the larger pan.

STICKY DATE AND ORANGE PUDDING

12 servings

 Preheat oven 350*F

 1 ¾ cups dates, chopped

1 cup water

1 cup orange juice, freshly squeezed

Bring dates, water and juice to a boil…reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes…remove from heat and stand 20 minutes to cool

6 tablespoons soft butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt

Zest of 1 orange – I used homemade soft candied orange peel for this post

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger and salt…set aside

Cream butter, sugar and eggs together…add flour mixture and date mixture alternatively in thirds

Add orange zest…blend well

Place mixture into a round 9 inch greased and floured pan – I used three 6″ cake pans

Bake 1 hour if using a 9″ pan. If dividing into smaller pans, check after 35 minutes. The pudding is done when a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

This pudding freezes perfectly. Just before serving, I will make a warm butterscotch sauce. Here’s the recipe…

WARM BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE

 12 servings

 ¾ cup butter

1 ½ cup brown sugar

1 cup whipping cream

½ teaspoon vanilla

 Place butter, brown sugar and cream in a pot…bring to a boil

 Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes

 Add vanilla and stir well.

Do a test run to see if your family likes this pudding as much as mine does. You might decide to make it your new Christmas dinner dessert tradition!

Thanks so much for reading.