Sticky Pear Pudding Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to at 375°. In a large bowl, combine the first six ingredients; beat in milk until smooth. Stir in pears and pecans. Spoon into an ungreased 2-qt. baking dish. , In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter and water; pour over batter. Bake, uncovered, for 45-50 minutes. Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

Steps:

• Put the syrup, sugar and milk into a saucepan, then bring to a simmer to dissolve. Leave to cool almost completely while you get on with everything else. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.
• Put the butter, flour, bicarb, ground ginger and cinnamon into a food processor, then pulse until it forms fine crumbs. Generously butter a 1.4-litre pudding basin and sprinkle 1 tsp sugar into the bottom. Cut 3 of the ginger balls in half and put 5 halves, rounded-side down, into the bottom, like the points of a star. Cut one cheek from a pear, then slice through about 10 times, without cutting through the stalk end. Put this into the bottom of the bowl amongst the ginger, then press gently so that the pear fans out. Core, then thinly slice the remaining pear. Finely chop the rest of the ginger.
• Tip the cooled syrup mix and egg into a food processor, then quickly whizz with the dry ingredients to a batter. Take out the blade, then stir in the chopped ginger and sliced pear. Scrape the mix into the basin, then bake for 1 hr 20 mins until risen and dark golden, and a skewer comes out clean. Whatever you do, don't open the oven before 45 mins is up.
• To finish, gently melt the syrup ingredients in a pan together until the sugar dissolves, then boil briefly. Turn the pudding out of its basin just before serving, spoon over the syrup and serve with custard.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan combine the water, dates, and pears. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook, covered, about 15 minutes or until fruit is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Mash with a potato masher, fork, or immersion blender until as smooth as possible. Stir in baking soda; set aside.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg; set aside. In a large bowl combine brown sugar and butter. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed about 1 minute or until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla. Stir in date-pear mixture. Stir in flour mixture just until combined. Pour batter into prepared baking pan.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Place pan on a wire rack. Immediately use a long skewer to prick top of cake all over. Spoon the portion of Toffee-Pear Sauce without pears over cake. Bake for 3 minutes more. Cool on the wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm with the portion of Toffee-Pear Sauce with pears.

Steps:

• Peel the pears and cut the bottom off each to give a flat base - cut them to a height that will fit snugly in your tin. Use a melon baller or small knife to cut out the pips from the base. Roughly chop the pear scraps, discarding the pips, and set aside. Tip the sugar, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, zests and 600ml water into a saucepan large enough to fit all the pears. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Add the pears, cover with a lid or a piece of baking parchment, and poach gently for 15 mins until a knife easily slides into a pear. Leave to cool in the liquid.
• Now make the sponge. Put the dates and linseeds in a saucepan and add the almond milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cook for 2-3 mins until the dates are soft. Pour into a food processer and blitz until smooth. Add the oil and blend again, then scrape into a bowl and set aside to cool a little. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line a 20 x 30cm baking tin (a loose -bottomed one if possible) with a strip of baking parchment.
• Put the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl with 1/ 2 tsp salt. Mix well, breaking up any lumps of sugar with your fingers, and shaking the bowl a few times to encourage any remaining lumps to come to the surface. Add the date and oil mixture, and stir well. Fold in the chopped pear scraps. Scrape the cake mixture into the tin, then nestle in the pears, standing straight up, so that the bottom halves are covered. Bake for 35-40 mins until the cake is cooked through. Insert a skewer to the centre to check - it should come out clean. If there is any wet cake mixture on the skewer, return the cake to the oven and bake for 10 mins more, then check again.
• Meanwhile, bring the pear poaching liquid back to the boil and simmer until reduced to a glossy syrup. When the pudding is cooked, cool for 5-10 mins, then brush all over with the syrup, saving a little extra to serve alongside, with vegan ice cream, if you like.

Steps:

• Set oven to 180°C.
• With butter grease a 1.25-1.5 litre ovenproof dish, and arrange the pear halves, cut side up, in the dish.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl, stir in the sugar.
• Beat the egg into the milk, then beat egg mixture into the butter.
• Pour batter into the dry ingredients and whisk well with beater until smooth then pour batter over the pears and set aside.
• To make the sticky topping: Put the brown sugar and syrup into a small saucepan with 175ml cold water.
• Warm through over a medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves then
• increase the heat and bring to the boil without stirring. Take off the heat and immediately pour the sauce over the unbaked pudding.
• Sit buttered ovenproof dish in a baking tray half filled with water and bake for 45 minutes until the sponge is golden and sticky on top.
• Leave for 5 minutes before serving with cream.

Steps:

• Put the chopped dates in a pan with the milk, butter, ginger preserve and dark muscovado. Heat gently until the butter has melted and the mixture starts to bubble round the edges of the pan. Stir well and set aside for 1 hr to cool.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line the base of a buttered 23cm springform tin with baking parchment. Peel and chop the pears into large chunks. Mix the flour, chopped pecans and bicarb with the spices, then stir into the cooled date mixture with the eggs. Pour into the tin and scatter over the pears. Roughly break the reserved pecans and drop on top. Bake for 40 mins, then cover the top loosely with foil and return to the oven for 25-30 mins more until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just sticky crumbs - the cake may still look a little wet around the pears.
• While the cake is baking, make the brandy syrup. Tip the light muscovado sugar into a pan with 50ml water and dissolve over a low heat until syrupy. Stir in the brandy and set aside. When the cake is ready, spoon over half the syrup, then leave the cake to cool before serving with extra syrup on the side.
• To freeze, cool the cake in its tin, then wrap well and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost and warm through in a low oven. The syrup can be frozen separately, warmed, then drizzled over as before.