Nordic Bread and Butter Pudding

I didn’t like bread and butter pudding as a child, however one of my favourite cafes Lynwoods outside of London has one that looked so good I had to try it. Turns out my more sophisticated palette has a real penchant for this traditional English pudding, and it’s now a firm favourite.

Serves: 6

450g peeled and chopped apple

1 -2 tbsp sugar

1 loaf rye bread approx 450g (needs to be a doughy loaf)

Coconut oil or butter

250ml oat cream, plus more to serve (can use vegan alternative)

1-2 tsps cinnamon

200ml milk of choice

3 eggs

80g maple syrup

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Place the peeled and chopped apple in a saucepan with 1 -2 tbsp sugar. Pour in enough water to partially cover the apples. About 60-90ml is ok depending on the size of the pan. Cover and leave to stew on a medium heat for approx 15 minutes or until soft.

In a large bowl whisk the cream, eggs, almond milk, maple syrup and cinnamon.

Slice the bread in slices roughly 2cm thick. You can either cut off the crusts of leave them on. Personally it looks prettier with crusts on, although tastes better without them – I sold out for the insta pic!

Toast the bread and spread both sides generously with oil or butter. Layer the bread in an oven proof dish. A cake or loaf tin would also work. Just manoeuvre the bread so it all fits whatever shape.

Spoon the stewed apple around the bread using your hands to pick pieces up if you need to get under slices. You may not want to use all the apple so don’t worry if there’s some left over.

Pour the egg mixture around the bread making sure it’s all submerged as best as possible. You may have to push the bread right down into the egg mixture if it’s a shallow dish.

Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes until set. It’s best to keep checking just incase the top of the bread burns. In this case, cover with foil and continue cooking.

Serve warm or cold with plenty more cream and drizzlings of peanut butter.