Vanilla Date Pudding

Date Pudding

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped from the inside
• 8 ounces dates, chopped
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat your oven to 350 and butter a 9-inch pie pan.
2. Place the chopped dates in a blender. Pour over the boiling water. Let stand for 5 minutes then puree.
3. In a stand mixer, beat the eggs and brown sugar on medium high for 2 minutes. Add the vanilla seeds, vinegar, and butter and beat to combine.
4. Add a little bit of the date mixture and beat -- this will bring the eggs up to temperature -- add the rest and beat to combine (medium speed). Add the flour, salt, baking powder and beat just to combine.
5. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes or until the center is set and a cake tester comes out clean. Take a wooden skewer and poke holes every inch or so all over the pudding.
6. At this point you can let the cake cool until after dinner or pour over the vanilla-rum cream sauce and return to the oven for 5 minutes (10 if the pudding was cooled).

Vanilla-Rum Cream

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• dash of kosher salt

1. Mix the ingredients.