Making Puddings with Edd Kimber and Whitworths

Ooops, I accidentally had a week off blogging. Mostly because I was busy planning me and Rob’s 30th birthday party and just generally being very busy with life! Sometimes it’s nice to have a little break.

Todays post is all about a fab blogger event I went to a few weeks ago. As you all know I love a bit of baking and I always love to try new recipes. When Whitworths invited me to a baking masterclass to try their new product range I jumped at the chance. The best bit was that the masterclass was being hosted by Edd Kimber who won the Great British Bake Off a few years ago and also writes the fabulous blog The Boy Who Bakes.

The idea of the masterclass was to try an alternative to the classic Christmas pudding. So we were taught to make a Christmas inspired sticky toffee pudding. It was fantastic trying all the products and the recipe was really fun and easy to follow. As you’ll see at the end of the post, not everyone went to plan for me!

The recipe has loads of ingredients, many of which can be found in the Whitworths range…

Ingredients

225g Whitworths dates

200ml water

100ml rum

75g unsalted butter

175g light brown sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp honey

2 large eggs

200g self raising flour

1½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp mixed spice

¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

50g Whitworths apricots

50g Whitworths sultanas

50g Whitworths crystallised ginger, roughly chopped

50g unsalted butter (for the sauce)

100g light brown sugar (for the sauce)

¼ tsp flaked sea salt (for the sauce)

100ml double cream (for the sauce)

150g Whitworths toasted mixed nuts (for the praline)

175g caster sugar (for the praline)

How to make

1) Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan) and lightly grease 10 dariole moulds.

2) For the butterscotch sauce, place the butter, sugar and salt into a medium saucepan and cook over a medium heat until melted and smooth.

3) Allow to bubble away for a few minutes before adding the cream, stirring to make a smooth sauce. Set aside whilst you make the puddings.

4) To make the puddings, place the dates, water and rum into a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer and cook until a thick date paste has formed. Scrape the paste into a bowl and set aside for the moment.

5) Place the butter, sugar, vanilla and honey into a large bowl and use an electric mixer to beat until smooth and creamy.

6) Add the eggs one at a time beating until combined before adding the next.

7) In another bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and spices.

8) Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on a slow speed until they just combine.

9) Add the date puree and the dried fruit and mix until smooth and combined.

10) Divide the batter evenly between the prepared moulds and place onto a parchment lined baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the pudding springs back to touch. Remove from the oven and turn onto plates immediately.

11) To make the praline, place the sugar into a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until the sugar has melted and caramelised, turning a deep brown

12) Add the nuts and stir together until evenly coated in the caramel.

13) Tip out onto a parchment lined baking tray and use a spatula to press into a thin layer. Set aside until cool.

14) Once cool break into pieces.

15) Serve the puddings whilst still hot with the caramel and pieces of the praline.

Now if you’ve paid attention up until this point you will have the perfect delicious puddings. If like me you get distracted and make a mistake and add way to much baking soda, then yours will look something like this…

I am so disappointed in myself, as baking is my thing! But I’ll definitely give them another try when I’m on my own at home and hopefully they will come out much better!

I really enjoyed using all the fantastic Whitworths products, they all come in foil lined packages which are resealable and totally practical for quick baking. I’m looking forward to trying the rest of the range. Find loads more great recipes on the Whitworths website.