The Washington Post - 11.03.2020

e4 mg ee k the washington post.wednesday, march 11 , 2020

dozen individual portions using a

muffin tin, meaning each person

gets identical, attractive pud-

dings.

If you prefer to make one giant

pudding, see the variation below,

with a technique based on a recipe

from “Sweet!: from Agave to Tur-

binado, Home Baking with Every

Kind of Natural Sugar and Sweet-

ener” b y mani Niall (Da Capo L ife-

long Books, 2008), as shared by

David Lebovitz on his blog. The

larger pudding is particularly ten-

der and fluffy, and makes for a

really eye-catching presentation.

If you like contrasts, you’ll swoon

over the sauce-saturated bottom

and c runchy top.

Needless to say, growing up has

its b enefits. I learned I l oved sticky

toffee pudding. But with this reci-

pe in hand, you don’t need to be

late t o the p arty.

[email protected]

cake did not register. flash for-

ward about seven years, when my

now-husband and I were s itting in

a cozy pub in Wimbledon on our

first trip t o England. N aturally, out

came sticky toffee pudding for

dessert. Naturally, it blew my

mind. So much time wasted!

We’ve hardly passed up an op-

portunity to eat sticky toffee pud-

ding since then. And thanks to this

recipe, I — and, fingers crossed,

you — will hardly pass up an op-

portunity t o make it again.

This particular version comes

from one of my favorite restau-

rants, the Indian powerhouse

rasika in Washington. I’ve en-

joyed it in the restaurant, al-

though I liked it even more at

home. The dessert is satisfyingly

soft and saucy, w ith a not-too-cloy-

ing sweetness. The recipe makes a

toffee from e1

Soft, s auce-soaked and

oh, so satisfyingly sticky

Sticky Toffee Pudding

12 servings

If you prefer to make one giant pudding, see the variation below,

loosely based on a recipe from “Sweet!: from Agave to Turbinado,

Home Baking with Every Kind of Natural Sugar and Sweetener” by

mani Niall (Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2008), as shared by David

Lebovitz. The larger pudding is particularly tender and fluffy.

mAKE AHEAD: The undipped cakes can be refrigerated, tightly

wrapped, for 2 days or frozen for 1 month. The toffee syrup can be

refrigerated for up to 1 month. To serve, warm the cakes (thawed, if

frozen) briefly in the microwave before dipping them in the warmed

toffee.

Adapted from “rasika: flavors of India” by Ashok Bajaj and Vikram

Sunderam with David Hagedorn (Ecco, 2017).

Ingredients

For the puddings

l8 ounces pitted Deglet Noor

dates

l1 cup (240 milliliters) hot water

l 11 / 2 teaspoons baking soda

l 11 / 2 cups (187 grams) all-

purpose flour

l 11 / 4 teaspoons baking powder

l^1 / 8 teaspoon salt

l8 tablespoons (1 stick/113

grams) unsalted butter, at

room temperature

l6 tablespoons (76 grams)

packed light or dark brown

sugar

l2 large eggs, at room

temperature

For the toffee syrup

l1 cup (240 milliliters) heavy

cream

l8 tablespoons (1 stick/113

grams) unsalted butter

l^3 / 4 cup (152 grams) packed light

or dark brown sugar

Steps

lPosition the baking rack in the

middle of the oven and preheat

to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-cup

muffin tin with nonstick cook-

ing spray.

lmake the puddings: In a food

processor, pulse the dates until

finely chopped. (This can also

be done by hand, but the ma-

chine does a better job.)

lIn a medium bowl, stir together

the dates, hot water and baking

soda. Let rest for 10 minutes.

lIn a small bowl, whisk together

the flour, baking powder and

salt.

lIn a stand mixer fitted with the

paddle attachment or a large

bowl with a hand mixer, beat

the butter and brown sugar on

medium speed until fluffy,

about 3 minutes. Still on medi-

um, add the eggs, one at a time,

scraping down the bowl after

each addition. Add the flour

mixture in two additions on low

speed. Scrape down the bowl.

lAdd the date mixture in three

additions on low speed and mix

until completely incorporated.

lfill each muffin cup three-

fourths full. Bake, 18 to 20 min-

utes, until a toothpick inserted

into the center of one of the

puddings comes out clean.

Transfer the pan to a wire rack

and let cool for 10 minutes.

Carefully remove the puddings

from the muffin pan and onto

the rack.

lmake the toffee syrup: In a

medium saucepan over medi-

um heat, combine the cream,

butter and brown sugar and stir

until the butter is melted and

the sugar is dissolved, 5 to 7

minutes.

lremove the syrup from the

heat, poke the puddings all over

with a skewer, and dip each

cake, one at a time, into the

syrup, turning them over and

over to soak them well before

transferring to a (microwave-

able) serving plate.

lTo serve, heat the puddings in

the microwave for 20 seconds.

Serve warm. Warm any remain-

ing toffee syrup over low heat

and serve on the side.

lVArIATIoN: To make one giant

pudding, butter a 2-quart porce-

lain souffle dish (or similar-sized

baking dish that is 7^1 / 2 to 8^1 / 2

inches in diameter and has tall

sides). make the sauce first and

pour half of it into the dish. Chill

in the freezer while you make the

batter. Transfer the batter to the

dish, smooth the top and bake at

350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes,

until a toothpick inserted into

the center comes out with moist

crumbs attached. (Loosely tent

the top with the foil if it starts to

look too dark.) Serve straight

from the dish, with the remain-

ing sauce on the side.

nutrition | per serving (using all the sauce):

390 calories, 3 g protein, 46 g

carbohydrates, 22 g fat, 16 g saturated fat,

105 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 2 g

dietary fiber, 31 g sugar

recipe tested by becky krystal; email

questions to [email protected]

tom mccorkle for the washington post

f ood styling by lisa cherkasky for the washington post

strong enough, so I dropped it

and used dried oregano.

When it comes to kitchen man-

agement and reducing food

waste, study technique and teach

yourself to be versatile. for in-

stance, if I need to make a cus-

tard, I’ll reserve the leftover egg

whites, then use them for Swiss

meringue buttercream to frost a

cake for a friar’s birthday. or if I

notice a bunch of raspberries are

Each week, we field questions
about all things food at live.wash-
ingtonpost.com. Here are edited
excerpts from that chat, which
included writer Brother Andrew
Corriente, the friar at Capuchin
College in Washington who won
“The Great American Baking
Show: Holiday Edition.” His reci-
pe for Granola Cookies can be
found in our Recipe Finder at
washingtonpost.com/recipes. All
of the questions here were directed
to and answered by Corriente.

Q: I might be an outlier here, but
your dish that impressed me most
was one you said you devised with
ingredients already in the pantry
— a really important message to
put out in an era when some
people waste food. Could you
discuss the importance of kitchen
management to reduce food
waste?
A: It was sun-dried tomato bread-
sticks. It w as actually supposed to
be sun-dried tomato and basil,
because we have basil in our
friary. The basil in Britain wasn’t

about to get bad, I make them

into jam. ripe bananas become

banana bread. The more you

know about technique, the more

you can use what you already

have and reduce waste.

Q: The late fred rogers was an

ordained Presbyterian minister

who created his own ministry of

television for children (and a lot

of adults). I wonder if, in a world

where many are malnourished,

there’s a place for a ministry of

food. I realize that sounds goofy,

but it could be spearheaded by

people like you and chef José

Andrés

A: I think each person can start

by being responsible for serving

those malnourished in their im-

mediate vicinity. for myself, I

feed day laborers who wait for

work every Sunday. If we all just

give back a little in our immediate

vicinity, w e can make a difference.

Q: I was under the impression

that recording days in the tent

were quite spaced out during the

British Baking show, so bakers

had a chance to practice their

signature and showstopper chal-

lenges in between. But that

doesn’t make a lot of sense if all

the contestants are from another

continent. Did you get to practice

between sessions? Did they give

you information about the chal-

lenges a few months ahead so you

could practice before any of it

started? If so, how did that go? It

must have been a lot of work to

practice for the whole series be-

fore you even left. I love the show

because it’s a competition but

everyone remains kind to each

other.

A: Yes, GBBo contestants have a

longer period to practice. We did

have time to develop recipes and

we did have time to practice in

between episodes. much less time

than GBBo contestants, but we

filmed only eight episodes. How-

ever, it was unbelievably hard. I

prayed so hard and cried on the

phone to my sister on multiple

occasions because I couldn’t get a

hump on my madeleines!

Free range excerpts

A lot of questions for the baking champ brother

laura chase de formigny

for the washington post

Brother Andrew Corriente.

MD MHIC # 117 6

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