Happy New Year to you all!

It has been a crazy few days and I have barely had the chance to sit down with my laptop and write my notes up. Now the holidays are over and I’m back at work, I realise so many of my Christmas plans to relax and read books fell by the wayside.

The holidays always feel like such a long stretch of time ‘off’, but once you have factored in catching up with friends and family…along with the fact I gave myself the big task of totally redecorating my bedroom, does time ‘off’ actually exist?  Not that I’m complaining, I love to be busy…but maybe I should just be a little more realistic about much I can actually fit in!

Any way back to food….

I (probably like everyone else) have succumbed to the sugar and naughtiness overload this holiday, despite my best intentions of self- control! I’m now craving healthy food so these next few weeks are most likely to feature more savoury snacks, I also fancy getting back into soup mode. But more on all that another time.

For now…one last indulgence I just couldn’t resist!  The great British classic- sticky toffee pudding!

I love this dessert and have been waiting to explore my own healthy vegan version for a few weeks now- but have only just found the time to do so in amongst the madness of Christmas and New Year.

The recipe is very closely based on my amazing blondie recipe, just a bit more datey, syrupy and gooey!  Since my blondies were super healthy, this pudding is also super healthy by default. Ok, the syrup topping maybe isn’t so much…but there certain limits in creating a healthy syrup and this is still healthy in comparison. The pudding itself is still very sticky and moist without the extra syrup, so it could be served straight with a little soy yoghurt if you are feeling a little more virtuous- it’s your call!

For those of you who’ve never had sticky toffee pudding, the so called ‘pudding’ is more like a dense moist cake. It is typically formed and served using a miniture singular dome shaped pudding mould, but here I have used the more practical blondie slice format and simply stacked two squares on top of one another.  The typical sauce would also be thinner and more ‘caramelly’ and although it is quite possible to make a vegan version this way, they typically involve lots and lots of refined sugar which I really wanted to avoid. Therefore my syrup is a thicker date syrup that I think really works well with the pudding. Also, I went down the route of using the GF subs optionally noted in the original blondie recipe.

Having just read this back to myself and uploaded the photos…I really want another piece right now!

Recipe: Sticky toffee pudding

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked mashed sweet potato
• ¼ cup soy yoghurt
• 1/3 cup coconut butter- melted
• 1/3 cup dates- softened
• ½ cup mashed chickpeas
• 3 tbs brown rice syrup (or maple syrup) plus ¼ tsp stevia
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup white spelt flour (or GF subs below)
• 2 tbs cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• A pinch salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• NB: GF flour substitute- 1/3 cup each of almond meal, buckwheat flour, tapioca flour

(makes one 8” pan or approx. 8 servings of two squares)

For ‘toffee’sauce:

• 1 cup softened dates
• 1/3 cup brown rice syrup and a pinch of stevia to taste
• ½ cup soy yoghurt
• ¼ cup water
• (makes just over 1 cup)

Method

Blend the wet ingredients in food processor until very smooth. Pour into a bowl, add dry ingredients and blend together until well mixed. Spoon mixture into a parchment lined 8x8 baking tin and smooth the  top. Bake in oven at 180C for approx. 10 minutes. Note- GF timings may be slightly shorter.

Whilst the pudding is in the oven blitz together the sauce ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a small sauce pan and heat for approx. 5 mins stirring continuously until bubbling. The mixture should form a thick sauce. If you would prefer a runnier syrup add a little more water.

Remove the pudding from the oven after 10 minutes and use a toothpick to make holes all over the top of the cake- approx. 100 holes. Spoon/pour approx. 1/3 of the sauce over the top and smooth over allowing to seep into the holes (much of the sauce will remain on top as a sticky layer).

Return to the oven for a final 5 minutes cooking time. Once cooked, allow to cool for a couple of minutes before slicing into squares. Serve whilst still hot with some of the extra sauce poured over the top as desired. Serve with soy yoghurt or ice cream.

The pudding and sauce will store well in the fridge for a couple of days. Best served hot.