Hot Date and Banana Steamy Pudding

Ingredients

Butter or margarine (75 grams)

Sugar (75 grams)

1 large egg beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Self raising flour (75 grams)

1 medium Banana

Dates (25 grams)

1 tablespoon milk

4 tablespoons golden syrup

Preparation

Pre heat oven to 180 degrees and grease 4 ramekins 8 - 9 cm diameter works well for 4 people.

Beat the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy and then beat in an egg and add the vanilla essence or extract.

Fold in the flour with a large metal spoon. When this is mixed mash the banana, chop the dates to the size you want and stir these into the mix with the tablespoon of milk.

Put 1 Tablespoon of Golden syrup in each of the 4 ramekins and spoon in the mixture on top. This works best if you only fill the ramekins to about 3/4 of their height. This is because they will rise when cooking.

Seal the top of the ramekins tightly with aluminium foil and place the ramekins into a roasting dish or casserole. Finally put in enough hot water in the casserole or roasting dish to come up to half the height of the sealed ramekins.

Cooking Times

Place in a pre heated oven to 180 degrees and cook for about 40 minutes. Cooking times may vary depending on your oven so a simple test for making sure they are cooked can be made by taking the puddings out after half an hour and lifting one of the lids. If it looks like a steam pudding it's probably done. If it's not remember to seal the pudding with the foil before placing them back into the oven.

Serve hot on a dish immediately and add cream or crème frais to make this a truly wonderfully sweet pudding. Run a knife round the outside of the pudding and then put your serving dish over the ramekin. Turn them upside down and they should slide out onto the plate.

These puddings can also be stored in a fridge if you want to make a larger batch for later. To do this just place them in the fridge when you have placed all the ingredients in the ramekins and seal them with the aluminium foil. They will keep for 2 - 3 days there and when you ready to cook them you can simply place them in the casserole or roasting dish and cook when needed.