Main Ingredients:

See below ingredients and instructions of the recipe

Cooking Preparation of the Recipe:

------------------------FOR PUDDINGS-----------------------------
3 oz Butter, at room temp
5 oz Caster sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
6 oz Dates, chopped
6 fl ;boiling water
1/2 ts Vanilla
2 ts Coffee essence(I would skip)
3/4 ts Baking soda

-----------------------FOR THE SAUCE----------------------------
6 oz Brown sugar
4 oz Butter
6 tb Double cream
1 oz Pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350~ F. You will need eight 6 oz metal pudding
basins or eight 3 inch ramekin dishes, lightly oiled with vegetable
oil. A swiss roll tin and a baking sheet.

Begin by putting the chopped dates in a bowl and pouring boiling
water over them. Then add vanilla, coffee essence and baking soda.
Put to one side. Next in a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar
together, beating (preferrably with an electric hand whisk) until
mixture is pale, light and fluffy. Now gradually add beaten eggs a
little at a time, beating well after each addition. After that,
carefully and lightly fold in the sifted flour using a metal spoon,
then fold in date mixture including liquid. The mixture will look
sloppy, but don't worry. That is perfectly correct and the slackness
of the mixture is what makes the pudding so light. Now divide the
mixture equally between the eight containers. Place them on a baking
tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 minutes.

Using a palette knife, slide it around each pudding and turn it out.
If they have risen too high, you may have to cut a slice of the top
so that they can sit evenly on the plate. Now place the puddings on a
shallow, swiss roll type pan.

Next, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a saucepan
and heating very gently until sugar has melted and all the crystals
dissolved.

To serve puddings: Pre-heat broiler to its highest setting, and pour
the sauce evenly over the puddings. Place the pan under the broiler
so the tops are about 5 inches from the heat. Knock off any nuts on
top to prevent them browning. Let the puddings heat through for 8
minutes. The tops will become brown and slightly crunchy and the
sauce will be hot and bubbling. Serve with chilled pouring cream.

Note: After freezing, defrost, pour hot sauce over and reheat.

From Delia Smith's Christmas 1990 published by BBC books

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