Move over malva, sticky toffee pud takes the cake

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

Serves 8

This melt in the mouth pud has northern hemisphere origins, meaning it's the best antidote to chilly weather. It's rich, sticky and ever so moreish, with a decadent sauce.

Add to the pleasure with a pool of custard, cream or a ball of ice cream. What can I say, other than it's yummy?

Ingredients

• 125g (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 185ml (3/4 cup) sticky brown sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 240g (2 cups) self-raising flour
• 250ml (1 cup) boiling water
• 185g seedless dates
• 5ml (1 tsp) bicarbonate of soda
• 5ml (1 tsp) vanilla essence
• 15ml (1 tbsp) strong instant coffee powder

Toffee sauce

• 180ml (3/4 cup) sticky brown sugar
• 125g (1/2 cup) butter
• 250ml (1 cup) cream

Method

Cream together the butter and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Sift the flour and add to creamed mixture.

Pour boiling water over the dates, adding vanilla essence, coffee and bicarbonate of soda. Combine with the creamed flour mixture.

Spray a 23cm baking dish with cooking spray and pour in the batter. Bake for 45-60 minutes at 170ºC or pour into individual baking dishes and bake for 30-40 minutes at 170ºC.

For the sauce, combine the sugar, butter and cream in a pot and stir to melt the sugar, then bring to the boil. Serve the pudding with a generous pouring of sauce over the top — and if you want to go the whole hog, a good dollop of cream. -- SundayTimes

Churros

Ingredients

•  ¾ cup plus 2 tbs of water
• 115g butter 
• 1 tbs caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• ¾ cup flour
• 2 medium eggs
• ½ cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Method 

Place water, butter, tbs of sugar and salt in a medium-sized pot and stir until mixture boils. Reduce the heat and add the flour and mix rapidly using a wooden spatula. Continue stirring the mixture until the mixture thickens and does not stick to the sides of the pot.

Transfer the mixture to a stand mixer bowl and mix using a paddle attachment for around 3-5 minutes. This will allow the churro dough to cool down before adding the eggs.

Once the churro dough is a little bit cooler add the eggs one at a time while continuing to mix.

The mixture should become a lot stickier. Transfer the churro mixture to a piping bag fitted with a star tip and on a parchment lined baking sheet pipe 8-10cm long churros.

Cut the end using a pair of scissors. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 30 minutes. Three minutes before you start baking, preheat the air fryer to 180°C.

Gently remove the frozen churros from the parchment paper and place them into the air fryer basket and bake for 13-14 minutes. Place the churros in a single layer - do not stack – and cook in batches if necessary. In a shallow bowl combine the sugar and the cinnamon.

Place the baked churros in the sugar mixture as soon as they come out of the air fryer, toss them in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat them evenly. Serve with melted chocolate or Nutella!

(Tip: in- between baking batches, keep the uncooked churros in the freezer so they don't get soft.) - SundayTimes