Hawthorn, Apricot and Chocolate Bread-and-butter Pudding

Tue, 30 May 2023

• Bread-and-butter pudding is a childhood favourite, but here I’ve given it a sophisticated twist with an almondy hawthorn custard, apricots and dark chocolate.
• I love it with fresh apricots (which should be in the shops at the same time as the blossom is on the hedgerows), but my testers preferred the texture of the dried apricots, so I’ve included both options below.
• For this recipe it is worth seeking out good-quality white bread from a bakery. Mass-produced sliced bread will not soak up the custard properly.

 

Serves 8

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 50 g (1¾ oz) hawthorn blossom (ideally newly opened flowers)
• 650 ml (22 fl. Oz) whole (full-cream) milk
• 4 large eggs
• 100 g (3½ oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 75 g (2¾ oz) butter, melted, plus extra butter for greasing
• 100 g (3½ oz) dried apricots, coarsely chopped
• 100 g (3½ oz) 70% dark chocolate or chocolate drops, coarsely chopped
• 8 thin slices good-quality white bread (350–400 g/12–14 oz total weight)
• 2 tbsp Demerara sugar
• Pouring cream, to serve

 

METHOD:

1. Pick the flowers off the hawthorn into a large pan. It’s fine if there are little stalks left on the flowers, but you don’t want any woody bits or leaves. Add the milk and slowly bring to a simmer over a low heat; this should take about 15 minutes. Once the milk is just simmering, remove from the heat and leave to steep for at least half an hour and up to 2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, butter an ovenproof dish measuring about 22 × 22 × 5 cm (9 × 9 × 2 in).

3. Line a sieve (strainer) with a piece of muslin (cheesecloth) or a clean dish towel and strain the milk into a large measuring jug (pitcher). Squeeze the muslin to make sure you have extracted all the infused milk, then discard the hawthorn.

4. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for a minute, until combined, then pour on the infused milk, whisking constantly. Transfer the mixture into the measuring jug so that you can easily pour it over the pudding.

5. Now assemble the pudding. Brush one side of each slice of bread with the melted butter. Cut a few slices into neat triangles and set these aside for the top layer of the pudding. Use the remaining pieces of bread to line the bottom of the prepared dish, butter side up. Sprinkle with half the apricots and chocolate. Add another layer of buttered bread, the rest of the apricots and chocolate, then finally arrange the buttered triangles in a neat pattern on top.

6. Pour over the hawthorn custard, lightly pushing down the bread to soak into the custard. If it seems as though all the custard won’t fit, leave it to soak in for a minute or two and you should be able to add more. Sprinkle the Demerara sugar over the top. Leave to rest for about an hour, so the bread melds with the custard.

7. About 15 minutes before you want to bake the pudding, preheat the oven to 170°C/325ºF/Gas 3. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until the custard is set and the pudding is golden brown on top. Serve warm, with a drizzle of cream for extra decadence.

Variation: You can make this pudding with 150 g (5½ oz) fresh apricots, too. Halve the apricots, remove the stone (pit) and then cut each half into small wedges. Put the apricots in a bowl and sprinkle over 50 g (1¾ oz) caster (superfine) sugar, stirring to coat. Leave to macerate for a few minutes and then use as for the dried apricots in the recipe.

 

This recipe is taken from ‘The Edible Flower: A modern guide to growing, cooking and eating edible flowers’ by Erin Bunting & Jo Facer and published by Laurence King.