Recipe: Irish whiskey bread and butter pudding

By Edward Hayden

Serves 6

Time 1 hour

Easy

You will need

1 loaf of sliced bread, buttered and crusts removed (approx 12-16 slices)

75g/3oz sultanas

50ml/2fl oz Irish Whiskey

500ml/18fl oz milk

100ml/3 ½ fl oz pouring cream

200g/7oz caster sugar

½ tsp ground cinnamon

5 large eggs

50g/2oz flaked almonds (optional) 

Method

1. Butter all the slices of bread and cut off the crusts. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas mark 4.

2. Rinse the sultanas in boiling water and then place in a small bowl with the whiskey and allow to soak for approximately one hour but longer if time allows. Strain off the whiskey and retain for later use.

3. Put the milk, cream and the whiskey left over from the sultanas into a large saucepan and heat gently (almost to the boil)

4. Layer the bread up in a 9/10in ovenproof dish and scatter the soaked and drained sultanas in between each layer or bread. You should end up with three (or four) layers of bread altogether with the sultanas scattered in between each. The top layer should be just bread, do not put the sultanas on top.

5. You should use 50g/2oz of the sugar and a ½ of the required cinnamon to scatter in between each layer also.

6. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add the remaining 150g/5oz sugar and beat together until combined.

7. Add the remaining cinnamon to the eggs and sugar and pour the boiled milk and cream over the egg mixture and whisk well until combined. Slowly pour all of this mixture over the bread and butter and allow it to stand for about 10 minutes to allow the milk to infuse into the bread.

8. Scatter the flaked almonds on the top of the soaked pudding at this stage. Put into the oven and bake for 40 minutes until the pudding is well risen and almost set to the touch. Serve with butterscotch sauce and cream.