A combination of nuts, butterscotch sauce and crumble create a perfect melt-in-your-mouth yet crunchy texture. Enjoy this sweet treat as breakfast, or as a dessert at any time of the day.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pitted dried dates
- ½ cup just-boiled water
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1½ tbsps plain flour. Plus ¼ cup extra
- 30 g butter, chopped, plus 50 g extra, at room temperature
- ½ cup traditional rolled oats
- 2 tbsps chopped pecans
- 1½ tbsps brown sugar, plus ½ cup, firmly packed, extra
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup self-raising flour
- 50 g chocolate peanut bar, finely chopped
- 1 quantity Butterscotch Sauce (see tip), to serve
Steps
Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease 4 x 1 cup ramekins. Combine dates and just-boiled water in a heatproof bowl. Stir in bicarbonate of soda (mixture should fizz). Stand for 10 mins.
Place plain flour in a small bowl. Rub in butter to make fine crumbs. Stir in oats, pecans and sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat extra butter and extra sugar in a bowl until creamy. Add egg, beating well. Fold in combined self-raising flour and extra plain flour alternately with date mixture, until combined. Spoon miture into ramekins. Sprinkle with oat mixture. Bake for 20 mins.
Sprinkle with chocolate bar; bake for a further 5 mins or until golden brown. Serve with Butterscotch Sauce.
TIP: BUTTERSCOTCH SAUCE – Combine ¾ thickened cream, ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar and 50 g butter in a small heavy-based saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir for 2 mins or until sugar dissolves. Increase heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring, for 5 mins or until sauce thickens. Makes 1 cup.
Photo: bauersyndication.com.au