Ingredients
225g dates
175ml boiling water 
1 tbsp caster sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
85g butter 
140g Demerara sugar 
2 eggs 
175g self raising flour 
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
100ml milk  
2 tbsp black treacle

Butterscotch Sauce 
175g light muscovado sugar 
50g butter 
225ml double cream 
1 tbsp black treacle

Method
Heat the oven to 180c. 

Stone and cut the dates small.  Put the dates in a bowl and mix through the boiling water. Leave for 30 minutes and then mix and mash with a fork. Stir in the vanilla extract. 

Beat the butter and Demerara sugar until soft and creamy.  Add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing after each.  Mix in the 2 tbsp treacle.  Put in one third of the flour and gently fold through.  Add half of the milk and fold through followed by another one third of flour, the rest of the milk and the rest of the flour, gently folding after each addition.  Stir through the date mix.

9 times out of 10 the mixture looks curdled at some point in this process, don’t fret though it still turns out perfectly so carry on.

I like to use 180ml pudding basins which I butter and then coat with flour.  Butter each pudding tin, put 2 tbsps of flour in one tin, you then want to tip into the next tin while twisting it so you coat every part - this is what stops it sticking.

To cook each one equally you need them to weigh the same amount, this might seem overboard but the best way to do this is to weigh them, fill them all roughly half way and then weight them again, equal them out and keep adding batter until all the batter us used up.  This step is obviously completely up to you, you can do it by eye.

Put them on a baking tray and cook until golden which is 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.  They should be risen and a cocktail stick or skewer should come out clean.

Meanwhile make your toffee sauce.  Put the sugar, butter, half of the cream and the black treacle into a small saucepan and gently cook until the sugar dissolves.  Once the sugar has dissolved you want to bubble the sauce for 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the cream.

When the puddings are cooked, cover them in the sauce and serve!

If you want to make these in advance then they become more sticky the longer you leave them. These heat up perfectly either in the oven for 15-20 minutes until bubbling and hot or in the microwave for a minute.

- Original recipe by Angela Nilsen and taken from The Ultimate Recipe Book