Hot Cross Bread & Butter Pudding by Ian Pickstock

Bread & Butter Pudding

Serves 8-10 portions

Ingredients

500g Double Cream

500g Whole Milk

6 Medium Eggs plus one additional Yolk

110g Caster Sugar

1 Vanilla Pod (or half a tsp of Vanilla Paste)

12 Hot Cross Buns

Zest of one Orange

65g Liquorice (any soft Liquorice sweets will do)

80g Dark Chocolate

20g Demerara Sugar

Method

• Pre-heat over to 170°c.

• In a saucepan heat the milk and cream with the vanilla pod to infuse the flavour.

• In a bowl mix the whole eggs and additional yolk with the caster sugar.

• Once the milk and cream are hot (not boiling), gradually add the egg and sugar mixture whilst stirring.

• Sieve the mixture to remove the vanilla pod and any egg which might have solidified to create a smooth custard.

• Thinly slice the hot cross buns vertically (ideally use ones which are a little stale). Then roughly chop the chocolate and liquorice pieces.

• Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and start layering the hot cross bun slices with a sprinkling of chocolate, liquorice, and orange zest between each layer.

• Once all the hot cross buns are in the dish, pour over the custard and let it sit for a minimum of 30 minutes to absorb. If there is too much custard you can keep to one side and keep topping up the dish as it cooks.

• Sprinkle the demerara sugar on top.

• Bake for 35-45 minutes until it looks set and the top is golden.

• Serve with your choice of cream, custard or ice cream.

Enjoy!