Chocolate Hazelnut Bread & Butter Pudding

Bread & Butter Pudding is one of those classic nursery desserts we tend to forget about. Add chocolate, hazelnuts and whiskey, and you really have something very special. Perfect with cream custard.

Ingredients Serves 6

1 loaf good-quality White Bread, preferably 1 day old 
75g unsalted Butter, softened 
150g Dark Chocolate 
425ml Double Cream 
3 Eggs 
110g Caster Sugar 
50ml Irish Whiskey 
50g chopped Hazelnuts

Icing Sugar to sprinkle

Method

• Cut the crusts off the bread and cut into approximately 5mm thick slices – 10 slices of bread will be needed.

• Spread the slices with softened butter (keeping any left over to use later). Cut the buttered bread into quarter triangles.

• Melt the chocolate with the cream in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.

• In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold the melted chocolate mixture into the eggs. Stir in the whiskey and leftover butter.

• Spoon a layer of the chocolate mixture over the bottom of an buttered ovenproof dish and then arrange half of the bread triangles on top, in overlapping rows. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.

• Cover with more of the chocolate mixture and repeat the process with the remainder of the bread. Finish with any remaining chocolate and hazelnuts.

• Press the bread down with a fork so that it is all soaked in the liquid. Leave the pudding to stand for 4 hours.

• Bake the pudding in a preheated oven at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 30–35 minutes.

• Serve hot with a sprinkling of icing sugar and plenty of cream custard.