Bread expires way too quickly, and there are only so many sandwiches you can make (and stomach). So here’s a good recipe that uses up all the bread and makes dessert a meal in itself! And there’s nothing more luscious and luxurious on a cold afternoon than moist, melting bread and butter pudding, swimming in hot vanilla sauce.

Having struggled with many versions of vanilla sauce, this produces the thickest most velvety and gobbled-up-approved version – all my friends went for seconds, and the boys were on their best behaviour for a taste and teachers and volunteers practically inhaled the whole bowl (read: scraped clean the large metal basin). Definitely a recipe for keeps!

Luscious thrift...inspired by Raffles Culinary Academy
Serves 4

Ingredients
50g butter
half a loaf of Gardenia raisin bread, cut into triangles
Sultanas to taste
Almonds (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon powder, sprinkled on top
60g sugar
125ml whole milk (or low-fat milk if it makes you feel less guilty)
125ml cream
2 eggs
1-teaspoon vanilla essence
3-4 Italian ladyfingers, or savoiardi broken into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Cut the crusts off the bread. Spread one side of each slice with butter and sandwich some raisins and almonds between the slices. Cut into triangles.
3. Whisk eggs and milk together. Add the cinnamon sugar and vanilla essence and whisk together
4. Arrange the triangles of bread in the casserole dish with the ends standing in alternating top and bottom triangles. Squeeze some broken ladyfingers in between the slices.
5. Finish with a layer of sultanas. Sprinkle with almonds. Dot with small cubes of butter.
6. Place the dish into the oven and bake for 30 -40 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is golden-brown.
7. Serve warm and drowned in vanilla sauce below.

For the vanilla sauce

By the way…this same recipe, baked becomes crème brulee and frozen, turns into ice-cream.

125ml whipping cream (35% cream)
125ml milk
Vanilla pods
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 egg

1. Heat up the cream and milk.
2. Add vanilla
3. Whisk eggs and sugar in a separate bowl and add one cup of the hot cream and milk to the eggs. Whisk like mad to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
4. Tip the egg mixture into the rest of the hot cream and milk and stir constantly.

(This is where you want to ask your brother, sister, friends to do the stirring (hard labour) for you.) Tell them it’s fun! Then you can watch them take turns stirring whilst you wait, lovingly, for the mixture to thicken. You’ll know it’s ready when you dip a spoon into the mixture and it coats evenly. Draw a line across the back of the spoon, the line should stay.
5. Lick your fingers, don’t waste
6. Spoon abundantly onto the bread and butter pudding above. Devour whilst warm (but mind the hot custard! Don’t burn your lips!)