Frozen berries will work just fine...
Bread and butter puddings work well in a big dish, or individual like these...
Some people love them, some people don’t – others simply wouldn’t dare to eat such a shamelessly indulgent combination: bread+butter+cream+eggs+sugar! Being the daughter of English parents meant I grew up with bread and butter puddings regularly appearing on our table – though mum always used sultanas – never raspberries. Here is the recipe, based on my mums pudding. It always sells out at The Cooks Larder… I have also included a few variations on this favourite …Enjoy!
Ingredients:
To serve 6-8
- 1 loaf unsliced squishy white bread (the only time it makes an appearance in my house but of course you can use sourdoughs though they do alter the flavour)
- 150g real butter, room temperature for easy spreading
- 10-12 free range eggs
- 300ml pouring cream
- 1 cup castor sugar
- zest of 1 orange or lemon (depending on the other flavours)
- dash of real vanilla extract
- demerara sugar for top
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
Whisks eggs, vanilla, cream, caster sugar and zest together until well combined. You will need to stir again throughout the process as the sugar tends to sink to the bottom. Pour a little of the egg mix – just 1/2cm in the bottom of the ramekin or bowl along with a few raspberries.
Slice bread into thick slices and generously butter one side and cut into chunks. The size of the pieces will depend on the size of your serving dish – so: small pieces for individual ramekins and large pieces for a larger bowl.
Dunk the slices of bread into the egg mix and let sit until the bread has soaked up enough to be soggy. If you are using squishy white bread this won’t take long. If you are using sourdough it will need to soak for some time. It is important that the bread has thoroughly soaked up the egg mix – right to the middle otherwise you won’t get a lovely moist custard centre and base to the pudding. Keep layering the bread at different angles in the bowl or ramekin, tucking in raspberries here and there as you go and top with more raspberries.
Sprinkle demerara sugar over the puddings and place into a baking dish which is filled with enough warm water to reach up to 1/3 of the dish or ramekin you are using. Baking the puddings in a waterbath also helps the custard stay moist. Cooking time will depend on the size of the puddings and the type of bread.
Place in the oven and reduce temperature to 180 and bake until crisp and golden on top. To check if your puddings are cooked – even if they look golden – press down firmly but gently on the top of the pudding and check if any runny uncooked egg mix rises up. If not they are done otherwise bake for another 10mins and check again. Serve with cream or icecream…
Variations:
- After buttering the bread, lather with your favourite jam or marmalade – at the store we love using Cumquat Marmalade
- Try any berry or a combination
- Tuck chunks of dark chocolate around the bread
- Toss in some sultanas
- For an adult take on the puddings add a little Grand Marnier
- Or whisky soaked raisins or muscatels
I’m not a big bread&butter pudding fan BUT they look amaaazzziiinnnggg!
not sure they would even get out of the oven in this house – too many greedy sweet toothed english people here !