For me, bread and butter pudding is the absolute epitome of comfort food. During the cool winter months I love to bake comforting desserts, the kind of dessert you can look forward to after a long cold miserable day, one that will nestle serenely in a big bowl upon your lap as you melt into a big comforting sofa escaping the cool evening air under a cosy throw. Digging into a bowl of warm bread and butter pudding soothes the soul in the most magical way.
Bread and butter pudding also provides a healthy dose of nostalgia, its the kind of old school dessert most of us were happy to tuck into during our childhood where we first discovered the divine virtues of vanilla, custard and cinnamon. I relish in passing on these classic comfort food traditions. It’s definitely not something that we eat every day but on a special occasion a trip down heavenly memory lane is certainly something to indulge in.
This morning as I prepared the bread and butter pudding I was transported back to the times of my grandmother. I could just imagine a young housewife clattering about her kitchen bringing together with a little homely genius the most humble of ingredients to create a truly wonderful dessert for her family. In the days of my young grandmother necessity was most definitely the mother of invention and the limited ingredients of the day most certainly inspired ingenious culinary solutions just like this bread and butter pudding.
To create your own little slice of comfort simply…
Begin by chopping a loaf of stale bread into thick chunky slices.
Next slather both sides of each piece with a good helping of butter and jam. Today I opted for raspberry jam but any kind would be lovely.
Arrange the buttered pieces of bread in a large oven proof dish.
Next sprinkle a good helping of chopped dark chocolate and sultanas over the slices of buttered bread, pushing the sultanas and chocolate pieces in between each slice. Set aside.
Next, place the eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Pour the egg milky mixture over the bread, squishing down the bread to it drinks up all the lovely milky custard.
Sprinkle the entire pudding with a fine layer of caster sugar and light dusting of cinnamon. Allow the pudding to stand for ten minutes (to soak up all the wonderful eggy custard) before popping into a preheated 180 degree celsius oven to bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden and the custard is firm.
Serve immediately or at room temperature. We ate ours with a dollop of greek yoghurt and scattering of raspberries.
Bread and butter pudding
INGREDIENTS
1 loaf of day old bread, cut into thick slices
60 grams butter, softened
1/3 cup jam (we used raspberry but strawberry or plum would be delish also)
100 grams dark chocolate, chopped
80 grams sultanas
5 eggs
600 ml milk
1/3 cup caster sugar, plus extra to sprinkle
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground, plus extra to sprinkle
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract or essence
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Spread both sides of bread with butter and jam and arrange in an oven proof dish, trimming any pieces to fit snugly. Scatter over the chocolate and sultanas and push between layers of bread. In a large bowl place the eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla and whisk to combine. Pour the eggy mixture over the buttered bread and allow to stand for ten minutes. Scatter a little extra caster sugar and cinnamon over pudding and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden and custard is firm. Serve immediately with cream/custard/yoghurt or serve at room temperature if desired.
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