Monday Deserves Sticky Toffee Sauce

Publix has a new (very small) section that I recently discovered to my delight. Ah, British ingredients! When you think of good food, you may not automatically think "Great Britain!" but when Nigella Lawson cooks, you find yourself wondering if maybe a plane ticket over the Big Blue would be a small price to pay to find such items as she has on her shelf.

This week I watched Nigella make "Sticky Toffee Sauce," which she then poured over vanilla bean ice cream. She used something called "Golden Syrup," which is a very British staple. Hard to find here. But I recalled seeing it on that shelf at Publix...


This is what it looks like inside. Lets see if I can describe it as Nigella would describe it:
Look at this golden, sweet, sticky syrup... its amber color reminds one of honey right from the comb. But it tastes like caramel, almost... you could eat it right from the tin, but lets dress it up a little, shall we?


So tonight was our last night of a long weekend, and tomorrow our school days begin in earnest -- here come swim practices, swim meets, and piano lessons once again. In honor of our gloriously fall-like weekend of rest, I made "Sticky Toffee Sauce" for dessert while the kids washed up.

First comes 3/4 c. of brown sugar and 2/3 stick of butter, added to "one great mounding spoonful" of that golden syrup (if you aren't near a Publix, or your Publix doesn't carry British foods, substitute dark corn syrup, she says. This is why I like Nigella: she is NOT a fussy cook). Stir a bit until it's all melty and syrupy.


As it cooks, it turns into what Nigella describes as a "glorious, dark, sticky mess." She also said it smells like treacle. Well, okay then.

When it "erupts and bubbles at the edges," you pour in 2/3 cup of heavy cream (I'm going for the healthy version, so I used half-n-half. ha.). Give that a good stir for a minute, until it's thickened a bit, smoothed out, and oh, so creamy! When it becomes "volcanic," you're done! You're there, in dessert heaven.


Nigella serves this over vanilla ice cream because:
"Some of it stays molten and warm, and some of it solidifies slightly, and so you've got nuggets of sticky toffee."



You should see HER serving sizes. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it that she never blinks an eye. "That should keep me busy for awhile!" she says. Only a powerful woman can eat a dessert like that with no regret. She's my hero.