Almond and cherry bread and butter pudding

It's a good old fashioned family favourite that uses up fridge staples and stale of bread in the house, but it's not one to overlook. Phil has a few twists to liven up your Sunday pudding with his revamped almond and cherry bread and butter pudding.

Serves: 8Preparation time: 20 minutesCooking time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients

600ml milk600ml whipping cream4 whole medium eggs2 egg yolks1tbsp vanilla extract3-4 tbsp golden syrup2 tsp freshly ground nutmegZest 1 lemon, finely grated6 almond croissants, sliced into 1cm slices125g semi dried cherries100g small fudge pieces6 tbsp apricot jam2 tbsp water50g fudge piecesThick double cream or vanilla ice cream to serve

Method

Preheated oven to 160° C, gas mark 3.

Place the milk and cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Lightly whisk the eggs, yolks, vanilla, golden syrup, nutmeg and lemon zest together.

Pour over the slightly cooled milk and cream.

Place half the sliced croissant into 30cm square 4cm deep ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle over half the cherries and fudge pieces, then top with the other half of the croissant pieces, fudge and cherries.

Gently pour over the warm milk and cream mix.

Lightly press down with a potato masher so the croissant are completely immersed, leave for about 5 minutes to soak up the cream and milk, then re press.

Cover the dish with silver foil and place the dish in a baking tray.

Pour boiling water around dish until its roughly half way up the side of the pudding dish.

Carefully place the tray into the pre-heated oven and cook for 30-40 minutes, do not let it overcook and soufflé. The custard needs to be just set or slightly under cooked.

Carefully remove from the water bath and take off the foil.

Mix the apricot jam with the water and mix well, paint onto the top of the pudding.

Sprinkle over fudge pieces and serve with cream or ice cream or both!