Everyone likes bread and butter pudding. It’s not difficult to produce, so long as you have the requisite bread or a richer equivalent like panettone or croissants. Pouring a custard mixture over the bread/panettone and baking is about it. Adding yummy things like fruit, marmalade and rum makes for a delicious pudding. And yes, there is butter in it too!
I make this version with my own marmalade, a combination of blood orange, ruby grapefruit and mandarin, but any good marmalade works. The raisins and sultanas drenched in alcohol are great too. You can do a quick soak, but I usually use my supply of raisins and sultanas that have been macerating in rum for a few months… the rum soaked fruit is delicious served over ice cream too!
Ingredients
50g raisins and sultanas
2 tablespoons rum or an orange liqueur
50g butter + extra for buttering the dish
1/2 panettone – approximately 10 slices
5 tablespoons marmalade
2 large free-range eggs
2 tablespoons caster sugar
300mls full fat milk
2 tablespoons Demerara sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C fan forced or 180 degrees non fan forced. Put the raisins and sultanas into a small bowl with your alcohol of choice and leave to soak for half an hour – or longer if you have the time.
Butter a baking dish big enough to hold all the panettone slices snugly.
Make 5 sandwiches with the panettone, butter and marmalade, being pretty liberal with the filling. Place the sandwiches side by side in the baking dish so they fit snugly into the dish. If some of the sandwiches are too big, cut them in half.
Scatter the raisins and sultanas and any of the alcohol rum that remains in the bowl.
Whisk the eggs together with the caster sugar. Pour in the milk and stir well. Pour the mixture over the panettone sandwiches and leave to soak up the liquid for 10-15 minutes.
Scatter the Demerara sugar over the sandwiches. Place the baking dish onto a baking tray, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the custard has puffed up and the sandwiches are golden brown.
Remove from the oven and sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with more of the marmalade and something creamy – I like Greek yoghurt – whipped cream, custard or ice cream are all good too. And a few blueberries also goes well.
The Quirk and the Cool 