The First Recipe

Sticky Date Pudding

2 sticks of butter (cut into 8 pieces) plus extra to butter pan

8 ounces pitted dates, chopped

1 teaspoon baking soda

5 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 cup heavy cream

4 ounces brown sugar

1 pint heavy cream, chilled, whipped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9-inch, high-sided baking pan.  Place the dates in a sauce pan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, reduce to summer and cook for three minutes.  Add the baking soda and set aside.  In a bowl cream one stick of butter, sugar, and eggs, adding the eggs one at a time.  Gently fold in the flour, the salt, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.  Slowly stir in the baking powder and 1/4 cup of the date cooking liquid until the cake mixture resembles thick pancake batter.  (Discard the rest.)  Stir in the dates.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until cooked in the center.  

Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining a stick of butter, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, the brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.  Bring to a boil; reduce to simmer, and cook for three minutes.  

To serve, drizzle some of the sauce over the cake as it is cooling.  Serve the rest of the sauce separately.  Garnish with whipped cream if desired.  10 servings.

Sticky Date Pudding, doesn't it sound like a recipe a grandma would have?  Well I have to say this recipe was a lesson in learning how to read.  I didn't chop the dates and I didn't add the eggs to the batter one at a time.  But I think everything turned out fine.  The cake was a little dry (I baked it for 35 minutes, probably could have been in the oven for 30 minutes instead) but it tasted good.  And the sauce was delicious!  The most difficult part of the recipe was actually finding pitted dates in the grocery store.  I've eaten dates in food before, but I have never actually seen a whole date and had no idea what I was looking for.  In the event you don't know where to find pitted dates in your local grocery store, they are in a resealable bag in the same aisle as the raisins either on the very top or the very bottom shelf.