Bread & Butter Pudding was one of the many loved desserts of my childhood. My grandmother would butter the bread, add dried fruit, cover it in sweet egg custard, and bake it for an hour or so.. Yum !

This is a new twist to an old favourite and a good celebration recipe for those that don't enjoy dried fruit .The recipe is very rich so aim for smaller servings

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

284 ml double/heavy cream
300 ml milk
200 g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
6 egg yolks
100 g soft brown sugar
75 g dried fruit (optional),75 g nuts (optional)or 60g shredded coconut (optional)
225 g Brioshe (French bread) sliced into 2cm thick slices

Pudding Directions

Preheat oven to 150°C.
Grease a 20cm x 30cm oven-proof dish and scatter with the dried fruit / nuts (if being used).

Place the double cream and milk into a pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl, beat together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth. Stir into the cooled chocolate-cream mixture. Stir until smooth.
Dip the Brioshe slices into the chocolate sauce and then layer them in the oven-proof dish, overlapping the slices as you go.
Place the dish into a roasting pan and fill the roasting pan to 2/3 full with boiling water.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Sauce
240ml whipping cream
180ml tablespoons Irish cream liqueur
25g cup sugar
5ml teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cornstarch
10ml water

Sauce Directions

Bring cream, liqueur, sugar, and vanilla to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Mix cornstarch and 10mls water in small bowl to blend; whisk into cream mixture. Boil until sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 3 minutes. Cool, then cover and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.)

Drizzle bread pudding with sauce and serve warm.

Check out more great recipes in The Wild Geese Irish Kitchen group