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This recipe for Banana and Date Puddings with Butterscotch Sauce comes from Leiths Simple Cookery and has been reproduced courtesy of Leiths School of Food and Wine in London.

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Ingredients for Banana and Date Puddings

1 ripe banana
1 egg
140g caster sugar
55g butter, softened
A few drops vanilla extract
140g self raising flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
85g pitted dates, roughly chopped
butter for greasing

To serve:
Butterscotch sauce
Vanilla ice cream

Butterscotch sauce:
110g granulated sugar
water
1 x 142ml pot of double cream

How to make Banana and Date Puddings

• Preheat an oven to 190°C / 375°F / gas mark 5. Grease a 6-hole muffin tin well, and line each tin with a disc of silicone paper.

• Whizz the banana, egg, caster sugar, butter and vanilla in a blender or food processor until smooth. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.

• Pour the banana mixture into the centre of the well and add the dates. Stir together thoroughly. Pour the mixture into the tins and put into the oven for 10 - 15 minutes until well risen and golden.

• When the puddings are cooked, remove from the oven, turn out and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.

• Serve the puddings warm with the butterscotch sauce poured slightly over and around and vanilla ice cream.

To make Butterscotch sauce:

• Place the sugar in a heavy saucepan and pour over enough hot water from the kettle to cover. Dissolve the sugar over a low heat without stirring or allowing the water to boil.
  

• Once all the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and boil until it is a good caramel colour.
  

• Immediately tip in the double cream (it will fizz dangerously, so stand back). Stir until any lumps have dissolved, then simmer the sauce for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Note:

To prepare ahead the cakes can be made in advance and frozen, then defrost and reheat as required.

As a variation bake the mixture in muffin cases and serve as a cake at tea time.

Serves 6

Leiths Simple Cookery

Published with permission of Leiths School of Food and Wine