Does anything scream Easter more than hot cross buns, and, in this weather, what’s more needed than a big warm wintery pudding? With this in mind, this morning, I made hot cross bun bread and butter pudding for our belated family Easter lunch.

I would love to claim that this was completely my idea, however it was actually an Asda Living recipe that I received via email the other day, and instantly I was excited to make it (I will add the link at the bottom).

The recipe itself was really simple, and you know I love a simple recipe. The ingredients were:

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• 320ml Milk
• 1tsp Vanilla extract
• Ground nutmeg (I didn’t measure it… oops)
• Custard for serving

As I usually end up doing, I didn’t really measure my ingredients, aside from the milk, and chucked things in by eye. It all turned out great so there must be method to my madness.

I started off by greasing my dish with unsalted butter and then began to slice the buns ready for layering. I sliced the buns horizontally into three separate pieces and used the remaining butter to spread on each slice. The recipe didn’t specify whether you were supposed to butter one or both sides, I chose to just cover the one side.

Once covered with a healthy portion of butter, I began to assemble the pudding. After finishing the first layer I sprinkled over a light covering of granulated sugar and repeated. I only got three layers from my hot cross buns, and even though this didn’t look like enough, it really expanded during cooking!

Now it was time to make the milky sweet topping. I lightly beat the eggs, milk, vanilla and grated nutmeg. I only opted for grated because it is all we had in the cupboard, but obviously if you have pre-ground you can use that too. I love nutmeg, but you can add as much or as little as you desire.

I think using cinnamon or even ginger would also be a tasty variation. I have also heard about people using chocolate croissants instead of bread/hot cross buns, but that will have to wait for another occasion!

Once the mixture was combined in a jug I carefully poured it into the casserole dish, ensuring I covered every slice of hot cross bun. Lightly I pressed down the layers to absorb all of the custard-like liquid. This will act as a binding agent, as well as making the bread puff up.

The last step was another sprinkle of sugar, and after this was complete, I set the dish aside for 20 minutes to ensure the liquid had soaked up and the sugar had melted into the buns. The sugar on top will give the pudding a lovely crust once cooked.

After the sitting time was up I placed the dish in the oven, which was preheated to 180 degrees and left it to cook for 35-40 mins. The hot cross buns really puffed up and filled the whole dish, forming a lovely crispy top, I wanted to eat it right then and there!!

As I prepped this before lunch I then left it on the side to keep cooking in its own heat until our Easter pork had finished cooking in the oven. After this I covered the pudding with foil and placed it back into the oven to re-heat ready for serving!

As I am at home the ingredients used were mainly from Waitrose, which is a HUGE treat for me, however this could be done with ingredients from any other supermarket and I am sure would taste just as good.

The recipes states it serves 10, however I am sure this depends on everyone’s appetites after a big Sunday roast or, in our case, and easter feast. As I was quite stuffed with pork, cauliflower cheese and veggies I did manage a little portion, and it meant we could send our guests home with some sweet leftovers!

Although when it came to eating the pudding it had sunk a bit, the flavours were still great. The nutmeg added a slight spice to the sweet creamy mixture. Maybe if you eat it straight away it would stay fluffy and light. Even so, with a big dollop of cold custard it tasted amazing!

Happy Easter!

LINK: https://www.asdagoodliving.co.uk/food/recipes/hot-cross-bun-bread-and-butter-pudding