So my Nanna Margaret was one amazing woman. She was fiercely independent & loved living in the country. She was ahead of her time; washing her freezer bags for reuse back in the 1980s. Her neighbours must have thought she was nuts hanging her freezer bags on the line! Like many in her era, she HATED waste - she was an avid composter and recycled at every chance.
She would cook us her famous Bread & Butter Pudding - we loved it. As kids we had no idea it was her way of giving bread a second chance. Nan used to cook in her well loved oven - this version uses an Air Fryer but an oven works too. Zero waste that is delicious? Yes please!
Ingredients
125 grams unsalted butter
600 grams of bread - mixed is nice, crusts are best! (sourdough, fruit bread, etc.)
300 ml double cream (or non-dairy alternative)
300 ml milk (alternatives: almond milk, oat milk, rice milk, etc.)
1 vanilla pod
4 free range eggs
4 tablespoons of raw sugar (alternatives: coconut or demerara)
100 grams caster sugar (can be reduced or removed)
60 grams good quality dark chocolate (70%)
60 grams orange marmalade (or alternative jam, fresh or frozen fruit)
Method
1. Choose your baking vessel depending on your Air Fryer: we recommend Air Fryer Bowl in round or square or Eco Stow in rectangle or round. We'll assume you've chosen the Square Air Fryer Bowl : ) Coat your Air Fryer bowl with a bit of butter. Silicone is now stick but we're coating in sugar next.
2. Sprinkle some sugar around the Air Fryer Bowl - sticking to the butter.
3. Grab your left over bread pieces and push them into the Air Fryer Bowl with the clenched fists. Your aim is to create a base for your pudding - use scraps of bread to stitch it together. Nothing fancy or exact. Hot tip: crusts are THE best for this part.
4. Start the custard; halve vanilla pod and scrape seeds. Place milk, cream and butter (cut up into pieces) and vanilla into a pot. Simmer for 5 mins - stirring until the butter is melted.
5. Grab a large bowl and whisk eggs and caster sugar for a few minutes. Whilst whisking carefully add the hot milk, cream & butter mixture until it's all combined. Remove the vanilla pod. *By now you should be salivating - the smell!
6. Final stage; dunk broken up chunks of bread into the mixture & add into the Air Fryer Bowl. Pour 1/3 of mixture over the chunks of bread. Add little blobs of jam and chocolate and then add another layer of dunked bread pieces and add some more mixture. Pour over any left over mixture - don't over fill : ) Sprinkle some sugar on top.
7. Bake in Air Fryer on 180 degrees for 25 mins - checking at 10 min mark. A ready pudding should be wobbly but cooked through.
8. Remove and let it cool before serving.
9. ENJOY!!
PS - this recipe is even better cold, the next day. Or freeze it for a no fuss, zero waste dessert.
