Sticky Gingerbread Puddings

Oh Delia. How I love you so. If I were poetic in any way, I would write a poem about her, titled 'An Ode to Delia Smith'. Sadly, poetry is not one of my strong points, so my dreams of writing a Delia-inspired poem cannot be fufilled. But that doesn't detract from my love of Delia Smith!!

As you may have guessed, this is a Delia Smith recipe. Instead of the usual Sticky Toffee Pudding, we mixed it up and made 'Sticky Gingerbread Puddings with Ginger Wine and Brandy Sauce' from 'Delia Smith's Winter Collection' (we have all the Delia books in the family. If I hadn't mentioned before, I'm a big fan).

Serves 8

Ingredients

110g preserved ginger in syrup

175g self-raising flour

1/3 tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 level tsp baking powder

3/4 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

75g soft butter

110g molasses sugar

1 tbsp black treacle

1 heaped teaspon freshly grated ginger

175g Bramley apple, peeled, cored and chopped small

175ml warm water

For the Ginger Wine and Brandy Sauce

175g soft dark brown sugar

110g unsalted butter

4 tbsp ginger wine

2 tbsp brandy

2 pieces preserved ginger, chopped small

Yes, that's a lot of ingredients, and some of them can't be found easily. But as I said before, it's Delia. And she's worth it.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/ 180C

2. First of all, place the pieces of preserved ginger in a food processor and turn on for 7-10 seconds. Be careful not to puree the ginger! After that sift the flour, spices, baking powder and bicarbonate into a mixing bowl.

3. Then add the eggs, butter and sugar. The way to deal with treacle is to grease the spoon first and, using a spatula or another spoon, push it into the bowl to join the rest of the ingredients.

4. Now add the freshly grated ginger, then using an electric hand whisk, whisk everything together gradually, adding the water until you have a smooth mixture. Finally fold in the apple and preserved ginger.

5. Now divide the mixture between the buttered pudding basins, stand them on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until they feel firm and springy to the touch. After that remove them from the oven and let them stand for about 5 minutes, then run a small palette knife around the edges of the tin to turn them out.

6. To make the sauce, all you do is gently melt together the sugar and butter until all the granules of sugar have completely dissolved, then whisk in the ginger wine and brandy, add the chopped ginger and the sauce is then ready to serve.

It looked a bit plain with just the pudding and the sauce, so I think it can be served with either chilled cream or vanilla ice cream

It was really nice, but I'm not in a rush to make them again. I think I'll stick to the cupcakes.