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Sticky Toffee Flapjacks

Sticky Toffee Flapjacks

by | Jul 25, 2017 | 0 comments

This Sticky Toffee Pudding Pancakes post is #SPONSORED by Natura Sugars

Image of Sticky toffee pudding pancakes piled high with toffee sauce dripping over them

This Sticky Toffee Pudding Pancakes recipe balances effortlessly between being breakfast and dessert. Whether you call them flapjacks (South African), crumpets (if you’re in the UK) or pancakes (if you’re American), around the world we seem to strongly disagree on what exactly they’re named but the one thing we can all agree on is they should be piled high!

Flapjacks fall within the same category as muffins and waffles – whoever made serving a dessert in the morning socially acceptable, let us know who you are so we can worship at your feet forever! These Sticky Toffee Pudding Pancakes/Flapjacks are inspired by one of my favourite puddings – with a hint of spice and loaded with fresh dates, they’re then covered in what has got to be the best sauce I’ve ever licked off a spoon.
Image of a stack of sticky toffee pudding pancakes

The secret is my favourite Natura Sugars Light Muscovado Sugar which is unrefined (all the goodness of the sugar cane is locked in) so is loaded with flavour – so much so that you don’t even need to caramelize it to develop flavour. Simply pop the ingredients in a pot (or jug) and heat until dissolved. I’ve got a jar of this in my fridge right now because I swirl a spoonful into my morning oats. Breakfast goals! See some more breakfast goals here and here!

Image of the ingredients for sticky toffee pudding pancakes with light muscovado sugar
STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING PANCAKES

Serves 4-6

 

200g Natura Sugars Light Muscovado Sugar

300g cake flour

7.5ml (1/2 tbsp) baking powder

pinch of salt

1 large egg

125ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk

5ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

300ml milk

90g butter, melted

100g fresh dates, finely chopped

 

TOFFEE SAUCE

100g Natura Sugars Light Muscovado Sugar

60ml cream

45g salted butter

 

To make the sticky toffee pudding pancakes, mix all the dry ingredients together. Whisk the egg, buttermilk, vanilla and milk and add to dry ingredients. Add the melted butter and dates. The mixture should be of a dropping consistency. Heat a non-stick pan and grease thoroughly. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the pan. When bubbles start to form on the surface, flip the flapjacks over and cook on the other side for 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining batter. Keep warm while you make the sauce. To make the toffee sauce, place the sugar in a small saucepan with the cream and butter and stir over low heat until dissolved. Increase the heat and boil for 5 minutes or until thickened slightly. Allow to cool slightly.

WATCH HOW TO MAKE THEM HERE:
Chocolate Amarula Ice Cream Lollies

Chocolate Amarula Ice Cream Lollies

by | Jan 11, 2017 | 4 comments

My childhood memories are filled with late-night trips to the shops to buy 4 x Magnum ice creams; white chocolate for my mom, mint crisp for my dad, almond for my sister, and plain for me. The fact that we lived on a farm 10km away from the closest corner shop was not a relevant factor when a craving struck at 8pm after dinner on a Friday night. And so my dad would get in the car and drive to make the women in his life happy (relationship goals, I tell you!). I don’t think there is a South African alive who doesn’t have an extreme soft spot for a Magnum ice cream, so I thought I’d have some fun and create a grown-up version of one of my favourite childhood treats; loaded with Amarula! I can’t really decide what the best part of this lolly is; is it the ridiculously rich and creamy no-churn ice cream in the middle? Or the homemade chocolate ice cap sauce coating that cracks when bite into it? Either parts will change your life.

Chocolate Amarula Ice Cream Lollies

Makes 6-8

 

600 ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp Amarula (optional)

1 x tin (397g) sweetened condensed milk

200ml cream, whipped

 

Dark Chocolate Dip (Ice Cap)

200g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate drops (click to shop)

160g odourless coconut oil

 

50g milk chocolate, melted, to decorate (optional)

 

To make the ice cream, whisk the double cream, vanilla, Amarula and condensed milk together until smooth and thickened slightly. Fold in the whipped cream then pour into lolly moulds. Insert wooden popsicle sticks and freeze for about 4 hours or until firm. Make the dip by melting the dark chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl of a saucepan of gently simmering water until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly then pour into a drinking glass or jug (to allow for easy dipping). Dip the ice cream mould briefly in hot water to remove the lollies then dip into the melted chocolate. Place on a tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with the melted milk chocolate and quickly put them back in the freezer until firm.

 

 

 

TIP Freeze a baking tray to pop the dipped lollies onto – this will stop them from melting fast on a hot day!

Chocolate Peanut Butterscotch Milkshake

Chocolate Peanut Butterscotch Milkshake

by | Aug 24, 2016 | 0 comments

#SPONSORED

If I had to be any dessert in the world, I’d be a freakshake. If you don’t know why then you’re obviously new around here so I’ll just go ahead and introduce myself anyway; Freakshakes are the ultimate anti-diet dessert, they’re totally over-the-top ridiculously decadent and most importantly, they’re the epitome of ‘life’s too short just order the damn dessert’. I love anything that involves 5 desserts in one, and I also love it when I can sip my dessert through a straw – minimum effort for maximum pleasure. Freakshakes seem to have taken over the internet, restaurants and our lives and I’m totally okay with that. Topped with basically every sweet, chocolate, biscuit or sauce you can get your hands on – there’s even a place that tops the milkshake with a HAMBURGER and FRIES! Get outta here. Seriously though, who came up with that? I want to be friends with them.
Something else you won’t say no to is this double thick shake loaded with peanut butter and chocolate. The folks over at First Choice challenged me to create my own take on a shake (no rhyme intended) using their new Chocolate Velvet which coincidentally, I discovered makes the easiest cheat’s no-churn ice cream in the world – see the tip below on how! This milkshake makes the perfect late-night snack when you NEED something sweet and decadent but don’t want to waste time fussing about – simply whip the chocolate velvet, add milk, a shot of cold espresso and then load it up with peanut brittle, butterscotch sauce and whatever takes your fancy, which in my case, is a lot of things! This milkshake reminds me of the double thick malt I had as a child when we visited a proper old-school drive-in in Port Elizabeth – it was delivered to our car by a waiter on roller skates, people! And now I’m giving away my age so I’m going to change the subject: If you had to create your own freakshake, what would you pile onto it?

Chocolate Peanut Butterscotch Milkshake

Serves 2

 

4 tbsp soft brown sugar

4 tbsp cream

40g peanut butter

2 cups First Choice Chocolate Velvet, chilled overnight

1 cup First Choice milk, chilled

50g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, melted

First Choice cream, whipped, for topping

Chopped peanut butter chocolate bars, to decorate

Crushed peanut brittle, to decorate

 

Start by making the peanut butterscotch sauce, melt the sugar in a pan over medium heat until the sugar turns a dark caramel brown – about 3-4 minutes. Swirl in the cream until combined and allow that to cool completely. Stir in the peanut butter. Smear the melted chocolate onto the sides of 2 glasses. Place the chocolate velvet in a medium bowl and whip on high speed for 5 minutes until fluffy. Add the milk and mix to combine. Pour into the prepared glasses. Top with whipped cream, chopped chocolate bars, crushed peanut brittle and drizzle with the peanut butterscotch sauce.

 

TIP The chocolate velvet makes ridiculously easy no-churn ice cream. Just whip it, flavour it with whatever you like – espresso swirl, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter – then pour into a bowl and freeze!

Disclaimer: This post has been sponsored by First Choice, however, I only work with brands I think are awesome and that I actually use myself.
No-Churn Amarula Ice Cream Cake with Malted Chocolate Balls

No-Churn Amarula Ice Cream Cake with Malted Chocolate Balls

by | Oct 10, 2015 | 1 comment

Maltesers, Whispers, Whoppers – malted chocolate puff balls have many names, but I have a special place for the ones we call Chuckles here in South Africa. Mainly because the 40g suggested portion size Woolies has placed on the packet makes me (quite appropriately) LOL for dayz. Do you know how much 40g is?! Not nearly enough.
The most difficult part of making this cake is chopping the malty chocolate balls in half. Warning: they do NOT like being chopped – I had quite a few runners who tried to escape the wrath of my knife. They of course didn’t escape the wrath of being eaten though! Mwahaha.
 
Note: I give an amount of malty chocolate balls in the ingredient list, but of course, you need to buy double – if you need to know why, then we can’t be friends.
 
You may also leave out the Amarula; I would replace it with some Milo or hot chocolate powder (Nesquik!) dissolved in a bit of milk. I poured my ice cream mix into a fancy silicone bundt mould, but let’s be honest here, no one will actually care what it looks like once they taste it because all you REALLY need is a spoon!

No-Churn Amarula Ice Cream Cake with Malted Chocolate Balls

Serves 6-8

 

600ml fresh cream

60ml (1/4 cup) Amarula (optional: use Milo or Hot Chocolate mixed in 60ml milk)

1/2 (400g) tin condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, melted and cooled

100g malted chocolate puffs, halved plus extra to decorate

 

Amarula Chocolate Sauce

55g The Kate Tin Dark Baking Chocolate, chopped

60ml cream

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Amarula

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Whip the cream until stiff peaks then add the Amarula and whip until combined.

Fold the condensed milk, vanilla and chocolate into the whipped cream.

Pour into a lined cake tin or silicone mould, sprinkling in the halved chocolate malt puffs as you go. Freeze for 4-5 hours (or overnight) until firm.

To make the sauce, place all the ingredients in a jug and microwave until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

Unmould the ice ceam cake by briefly dipping into water and unmould it onto a chilled plate. Serve drizzled with the sauce and sprinkled with the malt puffs.

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Dates

Sticky Toffee Pudding with Dates

by | Jul 2, 2015 | 0 comments

There’s nothing fancy or frilly about a baked pudding. It’s plain and simple but there is something deeply satisfying and supremely indulgent about a sticky pudding complete with pools of sticky toffee sauce and of course,  a good glug of piping hot custard. Something else which always accompanies a baked pudding, is a big spoonful of nostalgia. And this one, if it’s even possible, comes with an extra dose – because the recipe is over 60 years old.
When my great aunt Gwen passed away recently, I was given a great gift; 3 large falling-apart boxes filled with her love of recipe hoarding and all sorts of vintage kitchen paraphernalia. There were pages upon pages of recipes – not in a book or file but just stacks of cuttings torn out of magazines, from the back of soup packets and old shopping lists, some even quickly jotted down on the back of a church hymn booklet. But it was amongst these droves of recipes, that I discovered a few real gems.
And this recipe is one of them.
Cape Times Newspaper – Wednesday, June 16, 1954
 Margaret Pollitt writes: ‘One of the biggest problems of winter menu-planning is how to ring the changes with the sweet course – those sturdy summer standbys, ice cream, jellies and fruit salads, are of no use now to the mother whose children crave a big helping of pudding after the main course has been polished off.’
I cropped out the advert for corsetry services in the bottom right, although, in hindsight, that advert placement was very good!

Amongst recipes for pancakes (Margaret advises budding cooks that ‘tossing pancakes only comes with experience!’- you’ve been warned.), hot orange pudding, steamed sago pudding and roly poly, a date pud caught my attention. And it would be perfection when baked in my vintage pudding bowl (side note: how beautiful is this?!)

As a child I never appreciated puddings; I wanted to be a pastry chef and the simplicity of a baked pudding was completely lost on me. I only yearned to make the complicated, intricate desserts I saw in my cheffy cookbooks and magazines. My young imagination extended so much further than a quick-mix sponge drowned in thick UltraMel custard. How times have changed. Now… it’s the very thing I crave when the weather turns wet and grim. Perhaps that’s what makes pudding so universally soothing and rich in nostalgia. The fragrance of a baking pudding takes me back to Sunday afternoon lunches where we had to endure the delicious smell all the way through lunch. Torture. Followed by sheer bliss.

1954 Sticky Toffee Date Pudding

Serves 6-8

 

250g dried, pitted dates

250ml (1 cup) hot water

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250g cake flour

250g butter

1 tsp (5ml) baking powder

2 large eggs

100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar

100g toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped

Soaking syrup:

60g butter

1 cup sugar

11/2 cups milk

2-3 tbsp sweet sherry (optional, or add 1 tsp vanilla)

Preheat the oven to 180C, fan-forced 160C. Grease 12 small dariole moulds or ramekins or a large 26 x 16 baking dish. Place the dates in a medium bowl and pour over the hot water. Sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda and allow to stand for 30-45 minutes or until very soft. Place the softened dates (and the water) in a food processor with the rest of the pudding ingredients (except the nuts) and blend until smooth and combined. Stir in the nuts then pour into greased individual moulds or one large dish. For small puddings, bake for 10-15 minutes and large pudding, 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. In the meantime, make the syrup; place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Keep hot. Pour the hot syrup over the puddings as soon as they come out the oven. Serve immediately with salted caramel sauce (recipe below), vanilla custard or thick cream.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes 500ml

 

1 (395g) tin condensed milk

250ml (1 cup) cream

3 tbsp (45ml) brown sugar (like Demerara or Muscovado)

Pinch of good-quality salt (I used local Oryx desert salt)

Place the condensed milk, cream and sugar in a small saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer, stirring constantly until golden brown. Allow to cool, then sprinkle in the sea salt.