Monty Rose's Bread and Butter pudding (or why I am a fat wife)

The thought of bread and butter pudding always reminded me of school dinners. Rows and rows of cheapy sliced white bread, glistening with spread and not much else. Literally bread. And butter. Urgh.

But this Christmas, we popped down the road from our hotel to Quod (I've always wanted to go there but never got round to it) and had their bread and butter pudding with apple and blackberry. It. Was. Amazing. I just had to sample every last morsel to make sure I'd tasted every ingredient so I could try and replicate it later. Quite a few trials later (and with this recipe for help), I think I've just about cracked two versions…

Monty's apple and blackberry bread and butter puddingIngredients

• Nob of butter


• Half a bag of frozen blackberries


• 4 Pink Lady apples, peeled, and sliced


• Couple of squirts of lemon juice


• Cinammon


• A good two dollops of honey


• ½ cup sugar, plus 1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon


• Couple of drops of vanilla


• 4 eggs


• 2 cups semi-skimmed milk


• 1/3 cup Ameretto


• 800 grams brioche (about 2 loaves), ripped into chunks


• Spray fry

To make

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C


2. Melt the butter in a large pan. Add the fruit and lemon juice. Simmer.


3. Add in cinammon, vanilla, honey, ½ cup of sugar. Keep simmering, stirring occasionally for 20 minutes.


4. In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 2 cups of milk, ameretto and 1 cup of sugar. Submerge the brioche bits in the mixture, and allow them to soak up all the goodness for about 5 minutes.


5. Meanwhile, spray fry the inside of a baking dish. Place some of the brioche mixture in the bottom of the dish. Then spread the apple and blackberry mixture all over, creating a layer of fruit. Cover with the second half of the brioche mixture. Pour in any last bits of milky mixture that hadn't been soaked up. Top with a sprinkling of 1 tablespoon sugar.


6. Bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and golden. Serve warm with custard if you like.

Monty's white chocolate and cranberry bread and butter pudding(More or less exactly the same as the above recipe except…)

Ingredients

• Nob of butter


• 200g white chocolate chips


• 100g dried cranberries


• ½ cup sugar, plus 1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon


• Couple of drops of vanilla


• 4 eggs


• 2 cups semi-skimmed milk


• 1/3 cup Ameretto  


• 800 grams brioche (about 2 loaves), ripped into chunks


• Spray fry

To make

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C


2. In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs, 2 cups of milk, ameretto and 1 cup of sugar. Submerge the brioche bits in the mixture, and allow them to soak up all the goodness for about 5 minutes.


3. Meanwhile, spray fry the inside of a baking dish. Place some of the brioche mixture in the bottom of the dish. Then spread half the choc chips and cranberries all over. Cover with the second half of the brioche mixture and another layer of choc and cranberries. Pour in any last bits of milky mixture that hadn't been soaked up. Top with a sprinkling of 1 tablespoon sugar.


4. Bake for 45 minutes, until puffed and golden. Await adoration.