Lea recently revealed a recipe for her special bread and butter pudding at the Living North fair in York and we thought it would be nice to share it here so you could recreate the pudding in your own kitchen. We hope you enjoy it, and please let us know how yours turns out!

Serves 6 – 10

Ingredients

115g apricots – chopped

3 tbsps of apricot brandy but sherry or any other liqueur is fine

575ml Milk

575ml Double Cream

1 split vanilla pod or vanilla bean paste

4 large free range eggs

170g caster sugar

8 large slices of good quality white bread or 10 slices of a small sized loaf

Enough butter to cover slices of bread and to butter a lasagne-sized dish

Method

Oven set to 160c, 325f or gas mark 3

The day before (preferably) chop the apricots and place in a small bowl with the apricot brandy. Cover and leave to infuse overnight.

Put cream, milk and vanilla pod into a suitably sized pan over a low heat and bring mixture to a gentle simmer.  Leave to cool and infuse.

Remove the crusts from the slices of bread, butter and make sandwiches with the chopped apricots.  Cut each sandwich into four in a diamond shape.

In a large bowl whisk the sugar and eggs to a light frothy cream coloured mixture.  Using a sieve pour the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture whisking all the time.  When all combined, there will be froth on the top of the mixture – remove this to leave a smooth egg custard mixture in the bowl.

In the lasagne-sized dish lay the diamond shaped sandwiches in a pattern the length of the dish.  Gently ladle the egg mixture onto the apricot sandwiches and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes.

When ready, place your dish into a bain marie (roasting tin with newspaper in the bottom – Lea’s tip to protect the bottom of the pudding) and water to come halfway up the side of the dish.  Place in the oven which has been preheated and bake for 45 mins until firm but still pliant to the touch.

We think this pudding is delicious warm out of the oven if allowed to rest for 10 minutes or cold. Dust the top with icing sugar before serving, and sharp seasonal berries go well with this dish.