Sticky Date Pudding with Hot Butterscotch sauce, to feed a crowd

This delicious Sticky Date Pudding recipe is my go to Winter dessert for feeding a large number of people or for taking to a party for lunch or dinner and makes at least 16 serves. However, the recipe can easily be halved for a smaller dinner party or your family. They will love you for it. 

Hope's Date Rollettes, a classic delicious biscuit

Imagine a delicious, oval shaped biscuit rolled in coconut, and surprisingly encasing a sweet, chewy, and caramelly edible date, and you have Date Rollettes, a confection which my Mother used to bake for us on a regular basis. We loved them.

Self-saucing Economical Date pudding

 

Do you ever need a quick but delicious pudding for dessert just because you want some comfort food in a hurry, or for just no particular reason?  Dear Readers, this is a simple uncomplicated post, which I think is in keeping with a dessert that is very easy to throw together. A self saucing pudding always hits the mark. This post is laced with nostalgia. The recipe is based on a pudding that Mr. HRK passed on to me from his Mum whose name was Jessie, a long time ago when we were first married. I've swapped out the currants and sultanas for dates this time and we love the result. All of the ingredients were already in my pantry so that was easy. 

Middle Eastern Spiced Date, Walnut and Chocolate Loaf

Date and Walnut Loaf is quite a classic loaf cake to bake, and I've given this a subtle Middle Eastern flavour by adding Baharat spice powder instead of Mixed Spice, and I've also added a dessertspoon of cocoa to bring an added depth of flavour and colour to the loaf.

Aussie-style Rustic Date Scones

Scones, freshly cooked and served still warm from the oven, with lashings of butter, jam and cream, are one of my favourite treats. Scones shouldn't be fussy to make. They need to be mixed quickly, baked quickly and then enjoyed. These scones only need to be eaten with a good quality butter to be enjoyed, however if jam is your jam and you have a sweet tooth then by all means eat them with jam and cream. They are at their best straight out of the oven, and are crispy on the outside and pillowy soft on the inside and full of dates. As I took these out of the oven, I had visions of them being baked on an Australian sheep property for the shearer's smoko, or on a cattle property out west, and then seeing them devoured in one sitting by everyone. I cooked these in time for brunch this morning, I ate one, MR. HRK ate ??, well let's just say he ate more than me. Delicious with a cuppa.

Self-saucing Sticky Date Pudding Traybake

 

Winter  in the Southern Hemisphere is the time to treat yourself to an indulgent style pudding. However it is still delicious in Summer.

Date and Walnut Loaf Cake for an easy Afternoon Tea

Enjoy this Loaf Cake still warm out of the oven with a cuppa, or it will keep fresh for a few days in your cake tin, if it lasts that long. It has always been called a Loaf, mainly I think because it is traditionally baked in a loaf size tin. However, I have added cocoa powder to this recipe for more depth of colour and warmth of flavour, I have bypassed the step of cooking the dates, wet ingredients and bi-carb soda in a saucepan on the stove, it is too hot after all to be slaving over a hot stove more than is needed and it takes longer, and I think this all warrants a renaming of this classic masterpiece to a Loaf Cake. If biscuits can now be cookies, this can now be a cake.

However, leave out the cocoa powder, add a few more walnuts and you will capture the more earthy and nutty flavour of the walnuts and dates. I like recipes with options, don't you?

Golden syrup, walnuts and dates are staples in my pantry cupboard, and as such this Loaf Cake can be baked very quickly when required.

Enjoy your afternoon tea and happy Sunday dear friends.

Preheat your oven to a moderate temperature 180 deg. C. Bake for 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup white or brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 teaspoon Bicarbonate soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

2 cups S.R. Flour

1 cup boiling water

1 tablespoon Golden Syrup

1 egg

60 g softened butter (or 2 tablespoons)

2 teaspoons mixed spice

1 dessertspoon Cocoa for a darker cake (optional)

Method:

• Put chopped dates, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, golden syrup, butter, and walnuts in a mixing bowl.
• Add boiling water and mix well. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.
• Then add beaten egg, followed by the sifted flour, mixed spice and cocoa.
• Cook in a moderate oven in a greased and lined loaf or ring tin for 30 minutes.

Thanks for dropping by,

Warmest wishes,

Pauline

An original recipe by Pauline @ Happy Retirees Kitchen

Vintage Date Biscuits, my Mother's recipe

For my recipe, click here

Date Rollettes

Dates have become a standard item in most kitchens, being used for all kinds of exotic Middle Eastern dishes to cakes, breads and  desserts. Whilst I generally buy the Medjool dates, for this recipe I think that some of those are too large for biscuits and the quantity of biscuit mixture won’t stretch very far, unless you double it of course. I used a few smaller Medjool dates, but then converted to the packaged Trident brand, which are smaller and standard in size,  however any brand of commercially available dates will do. 

This is my Mother’s recipe, when Medjool dates weren't readily available, and baking them brought back all sorts of fond memories. The challenge though is converting vintage recipes in Imperial measurements to Metric. There are lots of great websites now that assist with the conversion, however I still use the Imperial measurement on my scales so that the quantities are exact. 4 oz butter can weigh slightly differently to 4 oz sugar.

Biscuits smell amazing when they are cooking and don’t take that long to cook. They will keep for over a week in a covered container, however they will never last that long in my house.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 oz butter = 1/2 cup = 113.4g
• 8 oz S.R.Flour = 227g
• 18 dates
• 4 oz sugar = 113g
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup dessicated coconut
• 1/2 cup milk

Let's cook:

Cream butter and sugar. When well mixed and white in colour, add well beaten egg, then slowly add flour.

Roll a date in a spoonful of mixture. Mould into uniform oblong shapes, or whatever shape you like.

Roll each biscuit into a little milk, and then into desiccated coconut.

Bake in a moderate oven at 180 deg. F. or 375 deg. C. for around 20 minutes depending on the heat of your oven, and until nicely browned. Check their progress after 15 minutes.

An original recipe by Pauline, Happy Retirees Kitchen

Sticky Date Pudding for a large dinner party

This recipe is great for entertaining a large number of people for lunch or dinner and makes at least 16 serves. It is best to bake this in a large ceramic baking dish. It is one of my favourite puddings.