Allow me to introduce you to my favorite dessert. The holidays always leave me feeling overindulged and for good reason. It's the time of year that sweets and treats we spend much of the year enjoying in moderation, are all of a sudden at every turn. Dessert after breakfast anyone?
This is when I pull out my all-time favorite (so far) dessert recipe, a healthier version of a traditional English Sticky Toffee Pudding. This treat is not really a "pudding" but more of a very moist sponge cake topped with a buttery caramel sauce. Traditional Toffee Pudding recipes use a standard butter-flour-sugar combo, a slippery slope of ingredients that leads to sugar crashes and mood swings.
It will take some time and patience to wean off the sugar, after all, and this dish may help ease the process. Our version uses protein (almond flour and cashew milk), omits problematic gluten (using gluten-free and coconut flours), and swaps processed sugar for unrefined maple syrup and dates. For an added boost, we've also swapped out the egg for healthy omega-3 rich flaxmeal. And just like the title says, the star in this classic dessert is one of our favorite sweet ingredients....Dates!
Dates are a delicious whole-food sweetener. They are packed with unprocessed carbohydrate, and boast numerous vitamins and minerals. Reports show that dates contain flavonoids (antioxidants) with anti-mutagenic, anti-microbial, and anti-carcinogenic properties. Dates are believed to have the highest concentration of polyphenols of any dried fruit.
There are many different varieties of dates and in this version we have used a combination of Medjool (for the cake) and Bahri (for the sauce). Medjools are the most commonly produced in California so if you cannot find the more buttery Bahri variety, feel free to swap for more Medjool (just note the difference in size and adjust accordingly).
Possibly best of all here is the abundance of fiber, which will help slow the absorption of sugar, help prevent blood sugar crashes, and leave you feeling satisfied with less. It would be interesting to try our version side by side with a traditional one and notice how different they make you feel. This is a recipe that's suitable for a celebration (think New Year's dinner?) or for a weekend dinner party. It's just that good.
The ingredients you'll need to gather for the "pudding" are:
almond flour
gluten free flour (see our recipe in notes)
coconut flour (can sub more gluten free)
baking soda
baking powder (aluminum free)
ground flaxmeal
10 ounces Medjool dates
maple syrup or date syrup
pure vanilla extract
cashew milk (see recipe in notes)
Your wet ingredients will go in the food processor first...
Then add your dry ingredients...
Process until smooth:
And spread into your prepared 8X8 pan ("prepared" meaning lightly coated with oil)...
After cooking, it will look like this. A toothpick inserted will come out mostly clean...
While the "pudding" is baking, you'll make your date caramel sauce. This can also be made ahead and stored in fridge for up to one week. Sauce should come out rich and creamy, like this....
The ingredients you'll need for the date caramel are:
fresh dates (we recommend Bahri variety for more buttery texture and flavor)
pure vanilla extract
Cashew milk (see notes)
ground cinnamon, optional
ground cardamom, optional
Just don't forget to label your sauce so it's doesn't become a mystery in your fridge.
So let's get started...
Dress it up or down, this dessert is your oyster...enjoy!
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