Gear Up For Easter With This Chocolate Amaretto Bread And Butter Pudding

This is one of the easiest puddings to make. It’s a great way to use up leftover bread, whether white or brown. I don’t use raisins, but if you like you can add about 150g raisins or sultanas by simply sprinkling them over the bread before pouring the chocolate custard. This is an adult dessert as it contains booze, but you can of course leave it out if you’re looking for a more family-friendly version.

Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180 ?C/gas mark 4. Lightly butter the ovenproof dish.To prepare the melted chocolate, break the chocolate into pieces and place them in a Pyrex or similar heatproof bowl with the cubed butter.Fill a saucepan with an inch or so of water, bring up to a gentle simmer and place the bowl over it, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the hot water. This is a bain-marie. Over a low heat, allow the steam from the simmering water to melt the contents of the bowl gently. Once melted, remove from the heat immediately.

Step 2

While the chocolate is melting, cut each in half and butter both sides.

Step 3

Once the chocolate has melted, mix in two tablespoons of water very slowly to produce a creamy texture.

Step 4

In a separate bowl or food processor mix the eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, amaretto liqueur, vanilla extract, melted chocolate and caster sugar.Stir in the rum and salt.

Step 5

Line your dish with the buttered bread slices, letting them overlap each other a little. Layer the amaretti biscuits over the bread.

Step 6

Carefully pour the chocolate mixture over the bread and biscuit layers. Continue with a second layer of bread, biscuit and chocolate mixture until all are used up.

Step 7

Give the mixure a gentle press with your fingers so that the bread is totally submerged in the chocolate custard. Leave for 30 minutes or more so that the bread will soak up the liquid.

Step 8

Lightly sprinkle a little extra caster sugar over the top and bake in the oven for 30–40 minutes or until just set. Serve warm rather than hot, with lashings of thick cream.

BAKE COOK DINE

Bake Cook Dine will have a variety of talent participating across the month of April, featuring a host of chefs, food bloggers and entrepreneurs, including Clodagh McKenna, Andrew Rudd, Domini Kemp and Kevin Thornton. They’ll be taking to the stage in the Arnotts kitchen department on various dates across the month to demonstrate some of their delicious dishes and juicing tips.

First up as part of Bake Cook Dine this Saturday April 4, from 11am-4pm, are Clodagh McKenna, Andrew Rudd and Wines Direct Tasting, with The Dining Experience.

For more information, including how to win tickets to our Reader Event hosted by Andrew, click here