insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 11 - January 2016 | Page 31

Chicken Soup

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Perhaps the ultimate get-well-soon dish, chicken soup has been
healing the world’s problems – sort of – for hundreds of years.

Nothing transports you back to the good old days of a carefree
childhood than a sticky toffee pudding. But whereas once our
metabolisms could cope with this sort of thing, for many of us just
looking at a pud like this will make us put on a few pounds. Never
fear, however – there is a healthier option!
Ingredients:
• 250g dates
• 100ml olive oil
• 200g self raising flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp treacle
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 eggs
• 100g Demerara sugar
• 150g natural yogurt
Plus:
• 100g muscovadgo sugar
• 1 tsp treacle
• 25g butter
• 100g crème fraiche for the sauce (if you want to include it – otherwise
serve with low fat custard, ice cream, or crème fraiche).
Method:
Chop the dates up and pour boiling water over the top. Leave them to one
side for half an hour or so to soften.
When they are ready, stir the vanilla extract and treacle into them, them
either blend them or mash them to make a purée. The final texture is your
choice entirely.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan, or gas mark 4).
Beat the eggs in one bowl and mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda
together in another. In a third bowl (there will be a lot of washing up to do,
but believe us, it’s worth it) mix the oil and the sugar.
Pour the eggs into the sugar mixture slowly, stirring all the time. When that’s
done, fold in half of the flour mixture using a metal spoon. Now pour in half
the yogurt and fold again. And now pop in the rest of