Irish Breakfast Butter Pudding

Buttered toast somehow gets better. This dessert is a classic, indulgent and simple. We steeped Irish Breakfast tea into the custard making it more robust and malty. Raisins are traditionally the dried fruit of choice, but here we used dried cranberries to add bursts of fruit between every bite.

Ingredients

For the Custard:

1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoon Irish Breakfast tea
1 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon Heilala Vanilla Paste
2 whole eggs
1/3 cup light brown sugar

For the Pudding:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 slices of day-old white crusty bread
1/4 cup dried cranberries or other dried fruit
1/2 a lemon, zested
1/2 teaspoon Cassia Vietnamese Cinnamon

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. For the Custard:To make the custard, heat the milk, tea leaves and half-and-half together in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture is about to simmer, and then remove from heat. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. Strain the custard and slowly whisk in the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla bean paste until frothy.

For the Pudding:

Liberally butter an ovenproof dish approximately 5x5 inches. Cut the crusts from the bread slices, then butter both sides of the bread and cut in half into triangles. Lay half of the bread slices in the bottom of the dish so that they are slightly overlapping, pointy side up. Mix the craisins with the lemon zest and sprinkle over the bread.

Evenly pour the custard over the bread. Let the mixture soak in for at least 30 minutes to an hour. Dust the top with cinnamon and bake for 30-35 mins until golden brown.

Serve warm 😄