JI love to cook for friends but If I'm honest although I will go to great lengths for a fancy starter or a complex main course with multiple ingredients when it comes to pudding I am a lazy chef!
It's not that I don't like desserts but if I had to choose between an appetiser or dessert I would choose the savoury option 99 per cent of the time.
So my guests either bring their showpiece puds or they know they are highly likely to be served fruit crumble, chocolate fondue or some variation of a bread and butter pudding.
I've made it traditionally with dried fruit, flung in walnuts, added liquors, toyed with brioche but my latest attempt at a choc chip version was one of the best ever!
And as a recent convert to a2 milk, I was keen to confirm that it is fine to use for cooking as well as being lovely to drink straight or on cereal.
Hang on - I can hear those of you that didn't read my a2 blog post wondering what a2 milk is. Let me quickly recap:
a2 Milk is 100% natural fresh cows’ milk which you may find easier to digest than regular cows’ milk, here’s why.
Cows’ milk contains different types of protein – including ones called A1 and A2. These two proteins digest quite differently from each other and, for some people, the presence of A1 protein can result in digestive discomfort after drinking milk. It was thanks to Dr Corran Mclachlan back in 1997 in New Zealand that the impact of this difference in proteins was discovered and the a2 Milk Company was born.
It's not that I don't like desserts but if I had to choose between an appetiser or dessert I would choose the savoury option 99 per cent of the time.
So my guests either bring their showpiece puds or they know they are highly likely to be served fruit crumble, chocolate fondue or some variation of a bread and butter pudding.I've made it traditionally with dried fruit, flung in walnuts, added liquors, toyed with brioche but my latest attempt at a choc chip version was one of the best ever!
And as a recent convert to a2 milk, I was keen to confirm that it is fine to use for cooking as well as being lovely to drink straight or on cereal.
a2 Milk is 100% natural fresh cows’ milk which you may find easier to digest than regular cows’ milk, here’s why.
Cows’ milk contains different types of protein – including ones called A1 and A2. These two proteins digest quite differently from each other and, for some people, the presence of A1 protein can result in digestive discomfort after drinking milk. It was thanks to Dr Corran Mclachlan back in 1997 in New Zealand that the impact of this difference in proteins was discovered and the a2 Milk Company was born.
So, back to the recipe;
You need:
6 slices bread, buttered & cut into small triangles. I used salted butter. Recipes always state stale bread but with 7 children we rarely have stale bread. I used fresh bread and it was fine!
chocolate chips or buttons. A good handful or two. I used plain buttons designed for cooking with from Hadleigh Maid which I was given in a goody bag after the Tots100 #madblogawards.
625 ml milk - I used a2 semi-skimmed milk.
3 eggs.
2 tbsp demerara sugar (or granulated sugar if you don't have any demerara)
2 tbsp white granulated sugar.
Method:
Lay half of the buttered bread in a nice pattern in the bottom of a dish - kinda the size you use for a family lasagne.
Scatter some choc buttons over the layer.
Lay the rest of the triangles of bread, making sure there are no big gaps. Sprinkle more choc buttons. Ponder it for a bit whilst shovelling a few chocolate buttons in your mouth for quality control. Add a few more buttons.
Mix together eggs, milk and demerara sugar.
Pour over bread and leave for 20 mins to soak in - or longer if like me you get distracted easily by shiny things.
Sprinkle with white sugar then use spoon to "baste" the dryer areas of bread before baking at 180 deg C for about 35-40 mins.
Serve with custard or ice-cream or cream. Serves 6 generously.
I actually made this in advance, let it cool then after taking our main course out of the oven, turned oven off and popped pud in. It warmed gently without drying out while I made custard. You can also gently microwave it - beware it reheats very quickly in microwave and can go tough. As well as burning your mouth obvs!
Anyone else got any new variations on bread and butter pudding? I'd love to hear them and increase my repetoire!
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Disclaimer: I was sent vouchers for free a2 milk and received the Hadleigh Maid chocolate buttons free in a goody bag. I chose to use these specific ingredients for this recipe - you can of course substitute with your own preferred brands.