Banoffee Bread-and-Butter Pudding

March 30, 2023 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

Do you ever get the fancy for something a bit different for dessert? I did, yesterday. It would have to be something that I could make using things that we had in the house, though-I couldn’t actually go and buy something, that would be cheating too much. We are trying not to eat too many desserts.

I thought about a crumble, but that was a bit ‘samey’, but then I came across a variation on bread-and-butter pudding. I don’t make them very often, even though Mark likes them very much, so it would be quite novel. The variation was that it included banana, and a bit of a caramel-y custard due to the inclusion of brown sugar. It sounded nice!

I had most of the ingredients. I was a bit short on white bread, but I did have sliced light rye bread and I thought that would probably do the job. I also wondered about variations. Bananas go really nicely with caramel (like in my Banoffee Pavlova (see Got Egg Whites?-Banoffee Pavlova), so I thought I might boost the caramel by adding some Dulce de Leche. I had bought a tin of this when I suddenly found it in my local supermarket-I had looked for this previously when making my caramel cake (see Quick but Impressive-Caramel Cake) but had failed to find it, so I was sure to pick one up when I did. So clearly I had to use it! I also thought I’d add a handful of raisins, which are more traditional additions to bread-and-butter pudding. I’ve also seen a version that uses halved and buttered hot cross buns as the basis-that sounds yum!

I’m giving the recipe for the original form, and for my alternative form; the photos are all of the alternative pudding but I don’t think it would vary greatly in looks. It’s an old-fashioned hot pud, warming and comforting. Considering that it had just snowed here (we thought we’d done with that!) perhaps I should have made it for tonight…

Original recipe, for 4

4 thick slices white bread

50 g butter, softened

85 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle

2 eggs

1 large banana, peeled and sliced

Large pinch cinnamon

450 ml milk

1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

Alternative recipe, for two

2-3 slices light rye bread

Sufficient spreadable butter to thickly butter the bread

30 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle

1 egg

1 smallish banana, peeled and sliced

Pinch ground nutmeg

225 ml 2% milk

½ tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

Handful sultana raisins

Drizzle of Dulce de Leche or caramel sauce

Grease a baking dish of appropriate size.

Butter the bread, cut into pieces and lay half, butter side up, on the bottom of the baking dish.

Cover with the banana slices. Add the raisins, if using, drizzle with Dulce de Leche, if using. Top with the remaining bread, butter side up.

Bottom layer of bread, topped with fruit and caramel

In a bowl, combine the sugar (except the tbsp), milk, egg(s) and cinnamon/nutmeg. Whisk to combine.

Put the cornflour/cornstarch into a separate small bowl. Add a small amount of the milk mixture and stir well until it is smooth, then add this back into the bulk milk mixture. Whisk to combine, then pour over the bread, pushing the pieces down into the liquid. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes, or until the oven heats to temperature.

Preheat the oven. 350˚F/ 325 ˚F convection/180˚C/160 ˚C fan/Gas 4

When ready, sprinkle the top of the dish with the remaining tbsp. of sugar.

Bake, 30-40 minutes, until the egg mix has set and the top is golden-brown. Allow to stand for 5 minutes when out of the oven, before serving. Serve with ice cream, cream, custard, etc., as preferred.

It was a tasty pudding with a light caramel taste-it could possibly have used more Dulce de Leche even. I served it with a little cold cream and it hit the ‘something different’ spot-can’t ask for more!

Super Quick-Ginger Sponge Pudding

May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

It has been a cool spring so far, winter seems to be hanging on rather, so a comforting warm pudding seemed like a good idea. I rather fancied a ginger pudding, to be eaten with lots of hot custard, very English. Trouble is, most of these sorts of puds are steamed, sometimes for quite a while, and that was rather more than I wanted to be bothered with. However, I came across a recipe that could either be steamed or microwaved. I’ll try the microwave method then; I don’t use the microwave for actual cooking very often

The Recipe:

125 g /4 oz/1 cup all-purpose (plain) flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 large egg

62 g/2 oz/¼ cup butter or margarine, at room temperature

60 ml/ 2 fl oz/¼ cup milk, warmed

2 tbsp brown sugar

80 ml/2¾ fl oz/⅓ cup molasses

2 tsp (or to taste) ground ginger

Sift the flour, baking powder, brown sugar and ginger into a bowl.

Place the milk and molasses into a microwaveable jug and microwave for 30 seconds. Mix together well and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Chop the butter into small amounts and rub into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Lightly beat the egg with a fork, then add this to the flour mixture and mix in.

Slowly mix in the molasses mixture and beat until smooth. Transfer into a microwaveable bowl.

Microwave for 4-5 minutes, the sponge is ready when a knife or skewer comes out clean.

Alternatively, place the mixture in a covered bowl and place it in a steamer for 1 hour.

A microwaved sponge always has a slightly different texture to a steamed or baked sponge, but I was pleasantly surprised with the results. There was plenty of sponge to match with custard, and half is in the fridge for today’s dinner. If I was to make it again, I think I would increase the ginger a little, as it was quite mild in this version.

Comfort Food-Baked Jam Sponge

February 21, 2022 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

February can be the worst month of the winter, I always think. Still cold, snow even and, just recently almost hurricane-force winds and icy rain. At times like that it’s natural to look for hearty, warming dinners (and never mind the diet!). Comfort food for Brits often revolves around hot puddings, with lashings of custard, and we are nothing if not conventional when it comes to puddings. I was certainly feeling like we needed a dose of comfort to brighten up February.

The problem was, I’m trying not to be tempted into baking, so I’m not keeping things in the store cupboard that would tempt. It would need to be a pudding that could be made from stuff I had in anyway. I remembered an old recipe that might do the trick-Baked Jam Sponge. I’ve had this recipe for years, longer than I’ve known Mark in fact, and it has come out on a semi-regular basis all through the last 30 years. It was originally written on a scrap of paper, so I don’t know where I found it, but I scanned it into my computer some time ago, so at least it is easy to track down. It is really simple to make, very cheap and cheerful, and very warming. It is also quite foolproof-I’ve had all sorts of mishaps with it but it still tastes good-and that’s the main criterion for me!

This is an old recipe, from the UK, so amounts were measured in ounces. I have converted to metric, and suggested cup equivalents, but I’ve never actually tried these so using one of the weight systems would be more accurate (given that, it is very forgiving so it’s probably worth a try!) Also, self-raising flour-you can get it over here, or make your own by adding 1½ tsp baking powder and ¼ tsp salt to 1 cup of all-purpose (plain) flour. Whisk well to distribute the baking powder. You can just use this, as is, or weight out the correct amount from this preparation (I’ve not tried it, myself, I got this from the internet).

The Recipe:

2 oz/60 g/¼ cup/½ stick margarine*, plus additional for greasing the dish

2 oz/60 g/¼ cup caster sugar**

4 oz/ 125 g/ 1 cup self-raising flour

1 egg

Good pinch salt

4 tbsp milk

6 rounded tsp jam***

*I have always used soft margarine (Imperial) for this, it makes for a very quick mixture, but I have no doubt that hard margarine or butter would also work,

**Caster sugar is superfine sugar, although in the absence of either I have used normal North American granulated sugar with good results.

***The jam suggested in the recipe is plum, not often found in our grocery store. I have used damson, strawberry, blueberry and raspberry jam. I would suggest full sugar jam and seedless, for best results.

Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C/Gas 4 .

Grease a 1½ pint pie dish with margarine, or butter, and set aside.

Place all of the ingredients, except the jam, into a large bowl.

Beat together the ingredients until smooth, beat for 1 minute using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer (my preference!).

Transfer to the greased pie dish. Place the jam on top of the mixture, smooth as required

Transfer to the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. The pudding is done when the top is golden and a skewer comes out clean. Normally the jam layer migrates through the sponge, leaving a jammy layer on the bottom of the sponge.

This is where it went a bit wrong, this time. I couldn’t bake straight away, because i was already using the oven. The main course of baked salmon and garlic roast potatoes were already in there, and at considerably higher temperature than the sponge wanted. I had to wait until the main course was ready before I could turn the oven down and put the pudding in to bake. Consequently, the temperature was probably a bit high to begin with. Result? the jam didn’t move, probably because the surface baked quicker than it should have done.

Mind you, it didn’t look too dreadful and the sponge baked nicely. It still tasted good.

As I mentioned, it’s best served with lashings of custard, although I think cream would work, too. It seemed to hit the spot. Note to self, maybe bake this first, next time! It should refrigerate and re-heat if the quantity is too large (serves 3-4 standard appetites).

A Touch of Nostalgia-Bread and Butter Pudding

June 10, 2021 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

I called this post a touch of nostalgia, because Bread and Butter Pudding is one of those old-fashioned puds that is supposed to hark back to the childhood of many Brits. Well, not mine. I never had this as a child because my mum loathed custards. In fact, it was quite a few years after starting school that I realised that custard itself didn’t need to be made in industrial quantities, as in a school canteen, because that was the only place I ever saw (or tasted) it. Since leaving home, I’ve been free to indulge my custardy fantasies as I wish, including making Bread and Butter Pudding.

It is primarily a low-cost treat, and a way to use up slightly stale bread, since it definitely works better if the bread is a day old, although I’ve made, or been treated to, a number of posh versions, using Pain au Chocolat, coconut milk or Panettone (the latter was very delicious indeed). It works well with crusty breads, or brioche if you want to be posh about it, but I had only a few slices of day-old ‘Newfoundland’ white bread from the local supermarket bakery available. Let’s see how that would work out.

The Recipe: for 4-6 servings

45-50 g/2 oz butter, plus additional for greasing the dish *

6-8 slices white bread

50 g/ 2 oz sultana raisins

350 ml/ 12 fl oz whole milk**

50 ml/2 fl oz double cream (heavy cream or whipping cream)***

2 large eggs ****

25 g/ 1 oz granulated sugar

Ground nutmeg, to taste

OPTIONAL:
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Lemon Curd or Lemon Spread

* I used unsalted butter
** I had no whole milk in, so used 2% milk
*** I had no cream in, so added a further 50 ml of 2% milk and an extra egg
**** add an extra egg if using semi-skimmed milk in place of whole milk and cream

The pudding must soak in the custard mixture, so make sure that you start making it in plenty of time.

I thought it might be nice to add a little something extra to the pudding. One variation that I’d seen had included making lemon curd sandwiches of the bread before adding the eggy mixture. It sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give it a go, but using the lemon spread I had in.

Grease a suitable pie dish (about 1 litre/2 pint capacity) with butter.

Spread each slice of bread with butter on one side. If you wish, you could cut the crusts off, although I left them on.

If using, spread lemon curd/spread on each slice. Sandwich together and cut diagonally into quarters.

Arrange the slices in the pie dish. I like to arrange them with the crusts downwards and the points upward. Sprinkle over the sultanas. If preferred, place the bread slices flat in the dish, sprinkle over sultanas and cinnamon (if using) and repeat layers, finishing with bread. Set aside.

Note, I didn’t use the cinnamon, since I thought that it wouldn’t marry well with the lemon spread.

Place the milk, or milk and cream, in a saucepan and heat until scalding point, but do not let it boil.

Place the eggs into a bowl and add 3/4 of the sugar, whisk lightly until pale in colour.

Add the warm milk to the eggs, stirring well, then strain the custard into a bowl. Pour the custard over the bread layers. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar, cover and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes. Note that I left mine for several hours, in the fridge, since I wanted to coordinate times with dinner, and it came to no harm

*Ready to bake-note that the froth is beacuse I whisked my milk into the egg mixture. It still tasted fine.*

Preheat the oven to 355˚F/180˚C/Gas 4

Sprinkle with ground nutmeg, to taste, then place the uncovered dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the custard is set and the top is golden-brown. Serve hot, with cream, ice cream or even, maybe, more custard, although that might be too much of a custardy treat even for me!

It keeps well, covered, in the fridge, and can be reheated for another day.

*Nothing fancy, but definitely tasty-as long as you like custard!*

Easy Sweet-Sticky Toffee Pudding

December 24, 2020 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

This isn’t a ‘wow, look at that!’ recipe, but it is tasty, sweet and warming on a winter evening. It’s also incredibly simple to do, which definitely ticks a few boxes. Sticky Toffee Pudding is definitely a staple of the ‘pub dinner’, back in the UK. It is a pudding , but not a steamed one, which makes it easy and relatively quick to do. Normally it would be served with a separate buttery toffee sauce, but this recipe produces its own sauce, under the sponge. It might not be totally authentic, but it works. It can even be made in advance and then reheated to serve-my kind of dessert!

I found the recipe on the internet, having had an urge to make a toffee pudding and amazingly found that I had no recipe available. in fact I found quite a few, but settled on trying this one because of the ‘one bowl, one step’ concept. I’m glad I did. One thing that I’d never realised, however, is that a true sticky toffee pudding involves adding dates. Now, I don’t keep these in the kitchen cupboards, they would be hanging about a long time. I wondered if I could substitute with (you’ve guessed it!) sultanas. Well, only one way to find out.

Nice and simple, here goes. I’ll give the recipe for my variation, and for the original, with dates.

The Recipe:

CAKE
4 tbsp/½ stick/60 g/2 oz butter, melted and cooled slightly*
½ cup/90 g/3 oz dark soft brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup/ 125 ml/ 4 fl oz half-and-half cream, or full cream milk**
2 tsp/10 ml vanilla extract/essence
1 cup/125 g/ 4 oz all-purpose (plain) flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup/ 90 g/ 3 oz sultana raisins or chopped, destoned dates***
SAUCE
1 cup/185 g/ 6 oz dark soft brown sugar
3 tbsp/45 g/1½ oz cold butter, cut into small pieces*
1¾ cups, 440 ml/14 fl oz boiling water

* recipe calls for salted butter, I used unsalted butter
** I had neither in, used 2% milk and whipping cream, in a ratio of 3:1
***as mentioned, I used the sultanas.

Preheat the oven to 375 F/190 C/Gas 5-6
SERVES 4-6

Whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar (½ cup)

Add the egg and vanilla extract, whisk until the egg is incorporated. I used a hand balloon whisk but an electric beater would probably work better.

Then add the milk or cream and stir until well-combined. I suspect that just 2% milk would have worked fine here.
Sift over the flour, baking powder and salt, stir until smooth. Fold in the fruit.
Transfer the batter to a well-buttered pan or dish (I used my 8″ square Pyrex dish) and smooth to an even layer. It will look a little scanty but should rise when baked.

Sprinkle dark brown sugar (1 cup) evenly over the surface, then add dots of butter (3 tbsp) all over the top. It helps to place the baking dish on a larger cookie sheet, or similar, at this point, for ease of transferring to the oven. Pour the boiling water all over the top of the batter mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. It is done once the cake springs back when lightly touched. It is, however, relatively forgiving-I thought mine was done, took it out then thought it could do with a bit longer so I returned it to the oven for 5 minutes more. It was fine.

A toffee-like sauce forms under the sponge layer.

Serve warm. if needed, it can be reheated by replacing in the oven at a slightly lower temperature for 20 minutes or so. The sauce will probably be stiffer after reheating. I served this on two consecutive nights, storing it, covered, in the fridge between times. On the first night I served with cold cream, the second with hot custard, it was excellent with both. It would be nice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too!

Take Two Apples-Eve’s Pudding

August 21, 2020August 22, 2020 Sandra DennisLeave a comment

I’m fussy about apples. I enjoy a crisp, sweet, almost tart apple but am not fond of those that feel ‘mushy’ when you bite in, so I loathe Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and their ilk. I really like Honeycrisp, but they are horribly expensive right now, Ambrosia, Pink Lady, Juici, etc. I thought I liked Royal Gala, but a recent purchase put me off them. So, I had two apples from the batch that I knew I wouldn’t eat, not raw. What to do with them?

Normally, my go-to would be an apple crumble or apple crisp, but I fancied trying something different, so I dug out an old recipe from my collection, for Eve’s Pudding. It’s a recipe I found when we lived in the UK, so it starts with ‘peel and slice 1lb of Bramley apples’! Ah, the Bramley, the best cooking apple anywhere (not really one for eating, though). Now we live in North America, no-one seems to understand the concept of a baking apple, one that you can’t really eat raw, and you never ever see Bramleys. They really do make the best apples for pies and the like, keeping their form and taste through stewing and baking. I suppose the closest we get would be a Granny Smith. I have a soft spot for Bramleys since the first tree was grown in the village of Southwell, in Nottinghamshire, after a young girl planted an apple pip in her garden-and, of course, we used to live in Nottingham. Anyhow, Bramleys will always need a preliminary cook, stewing in a little water and then adding sugar, before incorporating them in a pie.

The positive to using an eating apple is that you can generally skip the stewing phase, especially using a softer apple like Royal Gala. That makes it a quicker dish to prepare. In this case I just peeled and cored the two apples, and added pieces to a greased 6 in diameter glass oven dish. To make it more interesting, and why not, I added a 1/4 tsp of cinnamon, a handful of sultana raisins and 3 tsp of raw sugar granules, and added 3 tsp of water, too.

Apples, raisins, sugar, cinnamon and water

Eve’s Pudding is topped with a light sponge, made with equal amounts of soft margarine, granulated/caster sugar and self-raising flour, and a single large egg, very simple. The sponge mix is placed on the top of the apple layer, then the whole thing placed in the oven to bake.

The pudding is ready when the sponge is risen and golden, about 20-30 minutes. The pud is best served hot, with cream, custard or even ice cream, as we did. I put a generous scoop of caramel fudge ice cream with each portion, and it went down very well.

Just out of the oven

Fluffy sponge, fruity layer

A healthy portion

A la mode!

The recipe

I will give you the original UK version, and my amended version. This serves 3-4 people (or two, with very healthy appetites!)

Original	Amended
1 lb/400 g Bramley apples, peeled and sliced	2 eating apples, peeled and sliced
2 tbsp sugar	Handful sultana raisins
	¼ tsp cinnamon
	3 tsp raw or demerara-type sugar
	3 tsp cold water
2 oz/50 g caster sugar	2 oz/50 g granulated sugar
2 oz/50 g soft margarine	2 oz/50 g soft margarine (Imperial)
1 egg, size 2	1 egg, large
2oz/50 g self-raising flour	2oz/50 g self-raising flour (Cake and Pastry flour)

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas 4, although I did set mine to 350F convection (fan), because I was cooking something else that needed a slightly higher temperature, but it worked out fine anyway.

If using the original recipe, place the sliced cooking apples into a saucepan with a little water, and stew until tender. Add the 2 tbsp sugar and place the stewed apples into a prepared, greased oven dish. if following the amended version, toss the cut apple slices with the raw sugar, cinnamon and raisins, transfer to a greased oven dish and add the water.

Cream the margarine and sugar, using an electric hand mixer, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and then add the flour, beating until incorporated. Layer the cake mixture over the apples, place the whole in the oven and bake until risen, firm and golden in colour. The recipe gives 30 minutes for this, but at the slightly higher temperature I was using it took about 20 minutes. Serve immediately, with your preferred ‘side’.

It made a nice change to apple crumble, and was almost as easy to make. I’ll keep the recipe handy for the next time I buy the wrong apples!

Eve’s Pudding, with lashings of ice cream!

For those without self-raising flour handy, it can be substituted with plain/all-purpose flour mixed with baking powder at a ratio of 2 tsp baking powder to 150g/6 oz/ 1 cup flour. Whisk or sieve the two together, to make sure that the baking powder is evenly distributed through the flour, before measuring out the amount needed for the recipe.