Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce

It was one of the usual weekday nights. I got off work, and headed home for dinner. I was lounging on the bed, surfing the net and chatting with the Sister about random things while waiting for dinner to be ready. I forgot what we were talking about, but the subject of sticky date puddings arose. Then the Sister asked if I could make sticky date puddings cos she was craving for it suddenly. What she ask is what she get! Sticky date puddings it shall be...

Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce

Banana Date Chocolate Loaf

There was a bunch of bananas in the house. Though we tried our best to finish them up as quickly as possible, bananas ripen really quick. And soon, the skin turned really really black (okays, yellow base still but with LARGE patches of black covering the yellow everywhere...). I decided to use the remaining sad looking trio all at one go by making a banana loaf. Googling recipes for banana loaf, I found a recipe that sounds promising. Dates (I bought some Medjool dates a while back!), chocolate (licks mouth in anticipation), and holey moley, it requires three ripe bananas! Now. If that isn't fate calling, what is?

Banana date chocolate loaf

Pecan date tarts

Can you believe that I've never tried a pecan prior to this? Yeah, I know, sad life right. Anyway, when I saw some pecans in the baking supplies store, do I need to even stop and consider what I was going to do with it? Nope. It's going to be the classic pecan tart for me. And yes, I've also yet to try an authentic pecan pie/tart in my life. I know. The calamity.

Pecan maple date tart

Sticky date pudding 2

It's Friday! Here's some pictures of a sweet treat to brighten the weekend. I've used the Masterchef recipe again for the puddings, as I did the last time round. But weirdly, they taste different from what I remembered. The last time I made it, I remembered it to be softer and nicer, but this time round, they weren't very good. Could it be because I use my silicon molds to make this, whereas the last time round I used a metal muffin tray. Will taste be affected because of what material the molds used are made out of? Hmmmmm.

Sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce and hazelnut praline

Paella, Alice in Wonderland and some date cookies

Caught Alice in Wonderland with Siew last night at Jurong Point. Before that, we met outside Bakerzin. AND. I saw that macarons were their monthly promotion. Needless to say. There is going to be a seperate post on those macarons I ended up buying... ;)

Jurong Point has undergone a huge transformation over the years, with the addition of the new area, and everytime I head there, there seem to be something new - be it the connecting bus interchange, or just new shops. They have several shops I like - such as Mitju and Bysi. What a pity it is located right at the very secluded corner of our tiny island. Tsk tsk.

We settled on Ambush, serving fast European styled dishes at affordable prices. The place was really cute, and I regretted not bringing my camera out for a few quick snaps. They had four different types of single-serve paella! Most places require at least two person minimum to share the Spanish dish, and thus, I've never actually tried the dish before. I didn't have to think long on what I was ordering. Siew ordered sausages, which came with rosti and saukeraut. The food was not bad, considering their prices. The Ambush paella I ordered came in a really cute dish, had sausages, prawns, mussels, shellfish, scallop and was topped with colourful diced peppers. It was really moist though, I wasn't sure how authentic paella should taste like cos Siew mentioned she had paella before and her previous impression was that it was dry. Who knows? I shall attempt to make paella one day. My sister had bought me saffron from her trip to Nepal last year and even though I was so excited, I have no idea what to do with those precious red threads. Haha.

Alice in Wonderland. Now. What should I say about it? We watched it in 3D (My first 3D movie!) and were given really old-fashioned looking red glasses. So cute. There wasn't much of 3D effects, and the movie itself didn't make much sense to me, probably cos I forgot the original story plot (it was way back when I was a kid when I read the book). The Alice isn't even pretty! Hmpf.

Anyways, date cookies! Dates are really sweet fruits, so when baking with them, the sugar proportions can be reduced as the fruit acts as a natural sweet enhancer. These taste similar to my normal chocolate chip cookies, just a tad healthier without the added sugars. I still have some dates leftover, I am hoarding them still to make sticky date puddings. Soon. I hope. (:

The sweet sweet date...

Dates, chocolate chips, oats; Cookies

June baking Part 2

I had a short hiatus (say less than a week? snigger) from the last post of goodies before I baked again. This time round, in the final week before I flew off, I managed to squeeze in three more baked goods. Sticky date pudding. Lemon melt cookies. Apple tarts.


Sticky date pudding has a special place in my heart. Whenever I think of sticky date pudding, I think of Palais Renaissance's sticky date pudding. The one that the Sister and I are crazy about and would gladly fork each other to see who gets the last bite of the shared dessert. Though we havn't lunch there in ages, whenever we do, an order for sticky date pudding is always, and I mean always, placed.

It would be right to say that when I think of sticky date pudding, I think of my sister. Here's to a shared love for the dessert Sis!



I always wanted to attempt to make my own sticky date pudding from scratch. I recalled that someone had asked me whether I watched MasterChef Australia (the answer is no) and was really surprised (since I'm a foodie) and recommended me to watch it (I still did not haha!). The person, I forgot who, also mentioned about the sticky date pudding that the chefs made. Well, I googled MasterChef, and voilà, a recipe for it was available on the website! It was fate. I had to make it. The method looks easy, and it really is friggin' easy to make it.

It's the first time I bought fresh dates, and I must say, there are really interesting fruits. They are very very sticky, and has a pit in the middle. The smell of the cooked dates was quite dubious, but when I pulled the puddings from the oven, the smell that filled the house... I'm a happy girl with my puddings. And when I started making the butterscotch sauce... I was in heaven. (:

I had bought some Madagascar Vanilla Bean icecream (Coles Finest) to match with the dessert. The icecream was average, nothing spectacular, but combined with the sticky date puddings, it proved to be simply divine. Some things really mesh well together like butter on toast, coffee and chocolate and of course, sticky date pudding and vanilla icecream. One by itself is just not the same without the other.

As mentioned many times before, I love lemons. When I think of cookies, the image of double chocolate chip cookies zoom straight into my mind. Yet, I crave for alternate flavours other than the usual chocolate. I wanted something buttery, that melts in my mouth. Since I had forgotten to copy the Melting Moments recipe we use for CNY baking into my recipes notebook, I searched the web (seriously I salute the person who invented the Internet) for melt away cookies recipes. I found one that was delicious. Lemon melt cookies - The original recipe uses limes, but with an abundance of lemons at home, limes did not even cross my mind. I'll try using limes the next time round as I bet it will produce a great flavour.



I think I'll leave apple tarts for another post as I went a bit overboard snapping pictures for my babies (tarts). You'll know when you see the entry. ha!