Healthy Sticky Toffee Pudding

This healthy sticky toffee pudding recipe an is irresistible, comforting dessert. Rich with dates and naturally sweetened with no sugar, it's also dairy free and gluten free.

Sticky toffee pudding is a famous traditional British pudding. It consists of a dark moist sponge with dates, served with a thick toffee sauce to drizzle over. This healthy alternative is naturally sweetened and made with nutritious fruit, nuts and a couple of eggs. There's no butter, no flour, no sugar and no cream.

Jump to:

• What you'll love about the recipe
• Ingredients
• How to make healthy sticky toffee pudding
• Making the sauce
• Cinnamon and Kale recipe tips
• Serving and storage
• Other delicious healthy puddings
• Recipe
• Comments

What you'll love about the recipe

• This healthy sticky toffee pudding recipe is much lower in fat, calories and sugar than a traditional shop bought pudding
• Rich, indulgent and delicious, you won't feel that you are missing out with this comforting but healthy dessert. It's special enough for dinner parties and holiday desserts
• Suitable for allergy sufferers, healthy sticky toffee pudding is dairy free and gluten free
• Each pudding has nearly 8g of protein and 7g of high fibre which makes it satisfying and nutritious

Ingredients

Dates. I used a block of stoned cooking dates to make this healthy sticky toffee pudding. They are half the price of Medjool dates and don't need stoning. By the time the dates are soaked and chopped, you won't notice the difference.

You'll need some of the dates for the pudding, and some for the sauce. Note that the weight specified in the recipe is the weight of stoned dates.

Unsweetened applesauce. This is a great way to add natural sweetness and moistness to your baking.

I also use applesauce in recipes such as this fat-free fruit cake and healthy rhubarb cake. If you have access to a big batch of apples, cook them in a slow cooker and freeze them for these recipes.

Molasses. Just one tablespoon of molasses adds a lovely rich, treacly flavour and colour to this healthy sticky toffee pudding. Unlike refined sugar, molasses is a good source of important minerals such as iron and calcium.

If you don't have molasses, replace it with a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup. You could also use data syrup.

Eggs add vital structure to healthy sticky toffee pudding.

Ground almonds and coconut flour are a replacement for wheat flour. They make the recipe gluten-free, and very nutritious. There's no additional fat in healthy sticky toffee puddings as the almonds provide plenty of richness.

Baking powder helps the mixture to rise and makes it a little lighter.

You might also like this healthy ginger cake recipe which is made with similar ingredients and can be served as dessert.

Healthy sticky toffee sauce ingredients

You can use either tahini, almond butter or peanut butter in this sauce. Tahini adds a slightly distinctive flavour but is very delicious. Peanut butter is less noticeable.

Milk thins the sauce and add creaminess. You can use any type of milk including dairy free.

You'll also use the remaining dates to make the sauce

How to make healthy sticky toffee pudding

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (150 fan). Line the base of 6 mini pudding basins with greaseproof paper and grease the sides. Alternatively, if you want to serve the puddings in the bowls without turning them out, you won't need to line them.

Chop 175g of the dates into pieces about the size of a small sultana. Place in a bowl and cover with boiling water.

Break the eggs into a large bowl and whisk until pale and frothy. You can either use a hand whisk or an electric whisk.

Add the applesauce and molasses and whisk for a couple of minutes until smooth.

Drain the dates and reserve the soaking water. Stir the drained dates into the mixture.

Add the ground almonds, baking powder and coconut flour and mix well. The batter will very quickly thicken. Add 50ml of the soaking water until the mixture drops from a spoon.

Spoon the batter into the prepared bowls and smooth the surface level.

Place the bowls onto a tray so it's easier to remove them from the oven.

Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes.

Once cooked, leave the puddings in the bowls for 5-10 minutes until they are cool enough to handle safely.

Making the sauce

Whilst the puddings are cooling a little, make the sauce.

Chop and soak the remaining dates in boiling water.

After 5 minutes, drain the dates, reserving the soaking water.

Add the milk and tahini or peanut butter to the drained dates and blitz with a hand blender until the sauce is smooth. Add as much of the soaking water as required to give the sauce a good consistency.

Cinnamon and Kale recipe tips

• Always weigh coconut flour very carefully. It is very absorbent and a small amount makes a big difference to a recipe!
• If you can't get ground almonds, you can also use almond flour. If necessary, slightly adjust the soaking liquid in the recipe until the batter will just drop from a spoon.
• If you don't have individual pudding basins, you can also cook healthy sticky toffee puddings in a muffin tray. Make sure you grease and line the tray so you can easily remove the puddings.
• If you'd prefer to make one large pudding, use a baking tin approximately 17 x 17 cm square. Increase the baking time to 35 minutes.

Serving and storage

Serve this delicious healthy sticky toffee pudding warm with the sauce poured over. Add a few nuts for decoration if you like, pecans or walnuts are ideal.

The puddings can either be inverted onto a plate, or if you prefer, served in the bowls.

Leftover sauce can be stored in the fridge, and leftover puddings are best stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Healthy sticky toffee pudding can also be wrapped and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. It's best not to freeze the sauce, however.

Other delicious healthy puddings

You might also like these other cosy, comforting puddings which are all low in added sugar and made with healthy nutritious ingredients.

There are also lots of other healthy desserts to inspire you!

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Recipe

Please note nutritional information is per serving and is provided for guidance only.