I think we have been told maybe too often to eat lighter and its lovely to have something like bread and butter pudding that is really indulgent. The apple in this recipe maybe helps to make it more virtuous… I like it because if you get it right you have the peak of the risen bread and the apple standing up it looks quite glamorous – having said that its still good when its flat!

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

 6-8 slices white sandwich bread
45g butter softened
½ cup apricot or raspberry jam
2 cooking apples, cored and thinly sliced
finely grated zest of 2 oranges
½ cup sultanas
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla essence or scraped seeds of one vanilla bean
¼ cup caster sugar
2 ½ cups milk
Icing sugar to serve

Method

preheat oven to 160 centigrade

Spread each slice of bread with the softened butter and jam and cut into quarter triangles (leave the crusts on if you prefer)
Butter a large, 8-cup capacity ovenproof dish
Arrange bread triangles in the dish, interspersed with apple slices, overlapping them slightly. Sprinkle with orange zest and sultanas
Whisk together eggs, egg yolk, vanilla and sugar in a saucepan. Heat milk in another saucepan, until small bubbles form around the edge.
Add milk to egg mixture and whisk until combined; stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Pour evenly over pudding, making sure to brush tips of bread triangles with a little mixture to moisten them. Stand for 5 minutes or until bread has softened.
Place pudding dish into a roasting pan; add tepid water to pan until it comes halfway up sides of pudding dish.
Bake for 45 minutes or until custard has set and surface is golden, adding a little extra water to roasting pan during cooking, if necessary, to prevent liquid from boiling.
Just before serving sprinkle with a little icing sugar.