Gingerbread Skillet Pudding with Smoked Salted Toffee Sauce. A super decadent pudding, all warmly spiced and squidgy and totally delicious. The smoked salted toffee sauce takes it right over the top! It's incredibly easy too - you could have it made from start to finish in less than an hour!
I've got a new year's resolution (although I started before Christmas so it's more of a general resolution, rather than a specific resolution for the new year) - I've decided I want to be less of a planner. I've told you previously about my love for planning, but lately I've found it more limiting than useful.
I used to love nothing more than planning a menu for a future get-together, but lately I realised it was no longer an enjoyable process, and that my menu "planning" would involve obsessively Googling and scrolling Pinterest and comparing dozens of recipes over days or weeks, sometimes until I was so sick of the original idea that I gave up on it altogether. (A recent example: pistachio croissants).
In general, I like to plan things in advance, from social events, to holidays, to weekend activities. I get a bit stressed out if the plan changes, even if it's something as simple as wanting to make a particular meal for dinner and not being able to find the ingredients for it, or worse, thinking I have a free afternoon to watch The Simpsons reruns in my trackies, but suddenly realising that we have to go to... Bunnings.
However, there were a couple of examples in recent times where rather than doing my usual dithering over a million options for weeks and being paralysed by choice, I just made a quick decision and did things spur of the moment, and it turned out really well. (A few examples: buying a super-cute Christmas present of avocado PJs for my wife; deciding two days before Christmas to make a pavlova platter for Christmas dinner).
I am naturally an organised person, and I think a certain level of planning is important, especially for work or big life events. However, for day-to-day, culinary, and social stuff I wanna learn to go with the flow and not spend heaps of energy making elaborate plans and then getting annoyed if and when they go awry. I like the idea of being a bit freer in my day-to-day life and leaving myself open to different opportunities and experiences as they arise.
I used to love nothing more than planning a menu for a future get-together, but lately I realised it was no longer an enjoyable process, and that my menu "planning" would involve obsessively Googling and scrolling Pinterest and comparing dozens of recipes over days or weeks, sometimes until I was so sick of the original idea that I gave up on it altogether. (A recent example: pistachio croissants).
In general, I like to plan things in advance, from social events, to holidays, to weekend activities. I get a bit stressed out if the plan changes, even if it's something as simple as wanting to make a particular meal for dinner and not being able to find the ingredients for it, or worse, thinking I have a free afternoon to watch The Simpsons reruns in my trackies, but suddenly realising that we have to go to... Bunnings.
However, there were a couple of examples in recent times where rather than doing my usual dithering over a million options for weeks and being paralysed by choice, I just made a quick decision and did things spur of the moment, and it turned out really well. (A few examples: buying a super-cute Christmas present of avocado PJs for my wife; deciding two days before Christmas to make a pavlova platter for Christmas dinner).
I am naturally an organised person, and I think a certain level of planning is important, especially for work or big life events. However, for day-to-day, culinary, and social stuff I wanna learn to go with the flow and not spend heaps of energy making elaborate plans and then getting annoyed if and when they go awry. I like the idea of being a bit freer in my day-to-day life and leaving myself open to different opportunities and experiences as they arise.
That was a long introduction, but this gingerbread skillet pudding is a perfect example of a quick decision made with a positive (and delicious!) outcome. Let's take a look.
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| Gingerbread Skillet Pudding |
I made this pudding very quickly on Christmas Eve. I had a hankering for some gingerbread, and decided to try a Mary Berry recipe as I know they're always reliable. I googled a few, and found one for a ginger spiced pudding with toffee sauce on her website that looked good. Importantly, I already had all the ingredients at home, so I immediately got into the kitchen and started baking.
Mary makes it in a loaf tin; and I thought it would look very smart in a skillet. I have a 7 inch (18cm) skillet, but an 8 inch (20cm) skillet would work too, it would just be a little shallower and probably take slightly less time to cook. (Of course, for the skillet-less out there, a regular cake tin or ceramic dish would also be suitable).
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| Gingerbread Skillet Pudding |
It's very easy to make - essentially you mix the wet ingredients together, and then whisk them into the dry ingredients before baking.
You can serve it plain as a cake, but I definitely liked the idea of serving it as a hot pudding with a toffee sauce. I used Mary's toffee sauce, but added some smoked salt. I bought smoked salt ages ago for Nigella's wonderful 5-Spice and Cider Bundt Cake with Smoky Salted Caramel Sauce from Simply Nigella, but regular old unsmoked salt flakes would still be good. The sauce is easy too - just put everything in a pot and boil for a couple of minutes. You can do it while the pudding is baking.
And if that's not decadent enough, I served it with clotted cream. This one was imported from Cornwall (found it at a nearby gourmet shop), but I think any thick and rich cream would be great.
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| Gingerbread Skillet Pudding with Smoked Salted Toffee Sauce |
And if that's not decadent enough, I served it with clotted cream. This one was imported from Cornwall (found it at a nearby gourmet shop), but I think any thick and rich cream would be great.
The pudding was so good! So moist, rich and spicy. It has a bit of a sticky date pudding vibe, especially with the rich toffee sauce. It's quick to make and uses primarily supermarket ingredients. I hope you give it a try!
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| Gingerbread Skillet Pudding with Smoked Salted Toffee Sauce |
It might be eclectic to serve a hot pudding in the middle of summer, but I love it! (Just quietly, I had it for breakfast on Christmas morning). Enjoy!
Gingerbread Skillet Pudding with Smoked Salted Toffee SauceRecipe adapted from Mary BerryIngredientsFor the pudding50 grams unsalted butter100 grams light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar1 large egg75 grams treacle125 millilitres whole milk100 grams plain flour1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda2 teaspoons ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground ginger1/4 teaspoon ground nutmegFor the smoked salted toffee sauce200 millilitres cream50 grams butter70 grams light muscovado sugar or light brown sugar1/4-1/2 teaspoon smoked salt flakesTo serve, clotted cream or other thick rich creamMethodTo make the pudding, preheat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter in an 18 or 20 centimetre skillet, and then pour the butter into a mixing bowl. Use a pastry brush to coat the inside of the skillet evenly with the remaining melted butter.To the mixing bowl with the melted butter, add the muscovado sugar, egg, treacle, and milk. Whisk until smooth.Sieve the flour, bicarb, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg into a second mixing bowl. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.Pour the mixture into the greased skillet. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool slightly before serving.To make the smoked salted toffee sauce, place the cream, butter and sugar in a small saucepan and put over medium heat. Bring to the boil and allow to boil gently for 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the salt, whisk until dissolved.Pour some warm sauce over the pudding. Place the remainder of the sauce in a jug, and put out the sauce and some thick cream for people to add as they wish.Serves 6-8
Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog
P.S. If you like this recipe, you might also like my Coffee Stout Gingerbread with Coffee Glaze!
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1 comments
I'm all for warm puddings even in summer. I love gingerbread so this looks fabulous to me!
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