What I think I love most about Gizzi's book is her take on recipes, a perfect example being this Sticky Banoffee Pudding, what an inspired idea of combining banoffee pie and sticky toffee pudding, clearly the woman is a genius! If you are intrigued by the lovely Gizzi then you should definitely take a peak at the video below, where she talks about her style of cooking and her favourite recipes in the book.
Which reminds me I really should make one of those for Good Mood Food! Now that you have a full grasp of what Gizzi is all about I think it's high time we getting cracking with one of her recipes. I chose this recipe basically because not only does it look delicious, but because it combines two of my favourite desserts, simple really! :) Also don't forget to give me your questions for Ms. Erskine in the comments below or on twitter and facebook.
Gizzi Erskine's Sticky Banoffee Pudding
This is my boyfriend Dean’s recipe. While he is a fantastic cook, he is so lazy he never cooks for me, except for this. And my God, does it make up for it! The banana is terrific with the toffeeish dates and keeps the pudding really moist.
Serves 6
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 40 minutes
250g dates, stoned and chopped
250ml hot black tea, made with 1 teabag
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
85g softened unsalted butter, plus extra butter
for greasing
175g caster sugar
2 large free-range eggs, beaten
175g self-raising fl our, sieved
3 bananas, roughly mashed
1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
vanilla ice cream, or clotted cream, to serve
For the sauce
100g light muscovado sugar
100g unsalted butter
150ml double cream
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4 and butter a 22cm baking dish.
Place the dates in a small pan and cover with the hot tea. Bring to the boil and cook for 3–4 minutes, until the dates have softened, then stir in the bicarbonate of soda.
Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time. Fold in the fl our, banana, mixed spice and the date mixture and pour into the baking dish. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the top is springy and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre.
While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Put the muscovado sugar, butter and cream into a pan, place over a low heat and melt until the sugar has dissolved. Then whack the heat up and simmer for 3–4 minutes, or until the sauce is a light toffee colour.
Serve the pudding with the warm sauce and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or clotted cream.
Or remove the bananas from the ingredients and you’ve got a classic sticky toffee pudding!
(Taken from Gizzi’s Kitchen Magic by Gizzi Erskine published by Virgin Books, price £20)