Another classic pudding that needed to be turned into a cookie. Methodically related to the Lemon Drizzle Cake cookies, these are steeped in toffee sauce as soon as they come out of the oven. Don't over do it with the toffee sauce as they will become a little too soft, that said you could try microwaving them before eating to give them a warm puddingy feel.
Makes 16
Hands-on Time 25 minutes plus chilling (overnight)
Baking Time 15 minutes
Ingredients
3 Teabags
300ml Boiled water
300g Dates (pitted)
290g Unsalted butter (softened)
250g Dark brown sugar
175g Caster sugar
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Eggs, large
400g Plain flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp Fine salt
1 tsp Ground ginger
Equipment
Bowl
Knife
Freestanding mixer with paddle and whisk
Spatula
Baking parchment
Baking sheet (ideally aluminium)
Saucepan
Wire rack
Fork
Spoon
Add the teabags to the bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave to stew for 5 minutes before removing and squeezing dry with the spoon. Discard.
Add the dates to the tea and leave to soak and soften for 30 minutes. When the time has passed, remove dates, gently squeezing them over the bowl. Set the tea aside.
Finely chop the dates into small pieces.
Add 250 grams of butter, 200 grams of dark brown sugar, and the caster sugar to the bowl of the mixer and beat on a medium-high speed with the paddle for 5 minutes until you have a very light and fluffy mixture.
Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for a couple of seconds until combined.
Add the flour, bicarb, salt, and ginger and again beat for a couple of seconds until combined. Scrape the sides down using a spatula to make sure everything is incorporated.
Add the chopped dates before giving it a final mix. You shouldn’t need to run the mixer for more than 10 seconds. The key thing is not to over-mix.
Take a sheet of baking parchment and place the dough onto. Shape the dough into a wide, long sausage and roll up before popping it into fridge to chill for 30 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Take the dough out of the fridge, slice into 16 equal rounds. Roll each round into a ball and place onto the lined baking sheet.
Pop the sheet back into the fridge, ideally overnight, so the dough balls can firm up.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C (Fan)/325°F/Gas mark 3.
For the sauce add the remaining 40 grams of butter, 50 grams of dark brown sugar, and 60 millilitres of the reserved tea from earlier to a saucepan.
Place the pan over a medium-low heat until the butter is melted and the sugar dissolved. Stir occasionally with a spatula. Once the sauce starts to bubble remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool whilst you bake the cookies.
Slide the baking sheet out of the fridge and leave the dough balls on the shelf.
Once the oven has warmed up line the baking sheet with another piece of parchment.
Place approx 6/8 balls spaced about 10cm apart from each other onto the baking parchment.
Pop the tray into the oven on a middle shelf and bake for 15 minutes.
Once the time is up remove the tray from the oven. Slide the parchment carefully, with the cookies, onto the worktop. Immediately prick the tops of the cookies using as fork.
Spoon over a little of the sticky toffee sauce. Better to add a little at a time than a large spoonful which pools. You want the cookies somewhere between a reminiscent feeling they had once had an encounter with the syrup and waterlogge
Re-line the tray with more paper and bake your next batch.
After the cookies have rested for a couple of minutes they should be firm enough for you to transfer onto a wire rack to fully cool. You should find the sauce will be a bit more set as well. If the cookies were doused in sauce they might be a little soft to the touch.
Enjoy!
