Banoffee Donut Bread and Butter Pudding and Proper Rum n' Raisin Ice-Cream Recipes!

Greetings Gastro-gourmets!

Once again, welcome back to my recipe blog.

Well, after last weeks interesting and unusual Watermelon curry recipe, this week I want to share with you a couple of much more traditional puddings but, as in the recipe for the bread and butter pudding I'm doing, with a twist.

Bread and butter pudding is a total British classic, it not only proves that we make probably the most delicious range of desserts in the world, but that we can also turn leftovers ( usually in the case of this pud, stale bread.) And a few larder ingredients, into heavenly rich creamy loveliness.
There are recipes for bread and butter pudding going back hundreds of years but, as is the case with a lot of thrifty British desserts, it became tremendously popular during the second world war, when rationing meant that cooks at the time had to be creative with whatever ingredients they could get their hands on.

These days, thankfully, there is a much wider variety of ingredients on offer, but it's always good to know that a truly scrumptious pud can be made for just a couple of quid!

Over the years I've made this pudding with all sorts of different things, I've done a malt loaf one, one using Pannetone, Jamaican ginger cake, hot cross buns, even a savoury one using rye bread, asparagus and a cheddar cheese custard which, I have to say, was a very popular lunchtime special at the Bank Bar, served just warm with a nice dressed salad.
This time I've used donuts, bananas and toffee. ( in keeping with the tradition of making it from cheap ingredients I used some ring donuts from the reduced price section of my local supermarket which were marked down to 10p for a bag of 6!).

The Ice cream I've made this week is also a British favourite which, for some reason, doesn't seem to be as popular a flavour as when I was young. I suppose it's been overtaken these days by American style ice creams with all sorts of weird and wonderful flavours. ( just for the record, Ben and Jerry's Half-Baked is my favourite store bought Ice cream, its a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine as I sit there scoffing a whole tub reading the never ending list of ingredients! But I only buy it when there's a deal on and you can get it for about £2-£3 a tub.)

I have used my Ice-cream maker for this recipe. It's not an expensive one and it consists of a double-walled bowl that you stick in the freezer with a motor and paddle that you clip straight onto it, once it is frozen, to churn the ice cream. It gives a lovely soft scoopable consistency every time!

You can do it by hand using two bowls, one filled with ice and a second, smaller one that fits into the ice-filled one, if you're prepared to put the time in and keep fishing the ice cream out of the freezer every 30 minutes to re-churn it but to be honest I've only tried that method once. It took about 5 hours in total and I was still left with a rock-hard ice cream at the end. If you do see one of these ice cream makers for about £20 then I would definitely get one, I was bought mine as a Christmas present years ago and although I've only used it about 10 times I still consider it to be one of my top kitchen gadgets.

Hopefully by now I've whetted your appetite so lets get on with the recipes shall we?

Banoffee Donut Bread & Butter Pudding Recipe. (makes 6 portions.)

Equipment:

Microwave safe measuring jug.

Mixing bowl.

Balloon whisk.

Gratin dish approx 10"x 6"x 3" deep.

Ingredients:

6 sugared ring donuts.

200ml double cream.

200ml whole milk.

2 large eggs.

1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar, or caster sugar.

Approx 50g of soft butter.

10 toffees.

1 ripe banana.

Method:

Put the cream and the milk into the measuring jug and microwave on medium power for about 3 minutes. You want it to be hot but not boiling.

Meanwhile, butter the gratin dish lightly, slice the donuts, butter one half of them and pack them into the bottom of the gratin dish butter side up.

Unwrap the toffees and place them onto the buttered half-donuts. I like to put a toffee into each hole of the donut so that every portion gets a nice gooey toffee centre.

Peel the banana and slice thinly. Scatter the slices all over the bottom layer.









Put the top half of the donuts on top of the sliced banana and push them together so you get a nice even surface.

Crack the eggs into the mixing bowl and whisk up with the sugar till nice and foamy. Add the warmed milk and cream mixture from the microwave, a little at a time and whisk continuously to prevent scrambling the eggs. You should have a very runny custard.















Carefully pour the custard into the gratin dish, down the side and into the holes of the top layer of donuts so that you don't get the top layer covered in custard. You want a nice clean top to brown when you come to bake it.












Now cover the gratin dish with cling film and pop it in the fridge overnight.( you will notice with a lot of my recipes that I say to "leave in the fridge overnight", this comes from being a chef, I suppose, and having to get things prepared in advance. You can leave the bread and butter pudding to rest for half an hour or so after you've assembled it and then bake it but I personally think this doesn't give enough  time for the custard to soak into the donuts which gives the pudding a much more unctuous texture, it may also mean that you get, basically, donuts in custard as the sauce sets around the donuts rather than in the donuts, it's up to you really but I find giving the ingredients time to merge and mingle together gives a much better end result, besides which, if you are serving it up with the ice cream you'll need to leave it overnight!)

When you are ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees c/ gas mark 4.

Remove the clingfilm and lightly butter the top with a pastry brush.















Bake for around 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the custard is set. To check the custard is set press down on the middle of the pudding and if you don't see any liquid custard then the pudding is done!

Allow to rest for about 15 minutes before portioning up and serving with the rum n' raisin ice cream!

Proper Rum n' Raisin Ice cream Recipe. ( makes enough for 6 portions as an accompaniment to the bread and butter pudding.)

Equipment:

Ice cream maker.

Small saucepan.

Measuring jug.

Plastic scraper/spatula.

Hand/stick blender.

Clean plastic tub with lid.

Ingredients:

250g of good quality raisins. ( I've used green raisins from the Asian supermarket as I like the flavour of them more than the little black ones, but you can use them if you want.)


Half a bottle ( approx 350 ml) of good quality dark or golden rum.

300ml of double cream.

200ml of milk.

4 tablespoons of caster sugar.

A twist of sea salt. (optional, but it does give a nice extra element of flavour.)

Method:

Make sure the bowl from your ice cream maker has been in the freezer for 12 hours before you start. ( I keep mine in the freezer all the time so it's ready when I need it.)

Put the rum and the raisins into the small saucepan on the hob and bring slowly to a boil.

 As soon as it starts to boil remove from the heat and allow the raisins to plump up with the rum.

The raisins will soak up most of the rum and will swell to almost double their original size. ( see photo's.)

Leave them to cool whilst you start the ice cream.












Mix the cream, milk and sugar together in the measuring jug and start the empty ice cream maker.

Add the salt, if using, to the mix then pour it into the running ice cream maker slowly and steadily.

Let the mixture churn for about 40 minutes until it starts to look like slightly melted ice cream.

You may need to stop the ice cream maker from time to time and scrape the sides and bottom where the bowl is coldest to get a good smooth consistency.

Once the raisins have cooled put a couple of tablespoons of them into a measuring jug with any rum left in the saucepan. If you want to add a bit more rum then go ahead! be careful not to add too much though as the alcohol will prevent the ice cream from freezing and it will be a bit runny. I would suggest only adding another tablespoon of rum. Blitz these up with the hand blender to a smooth puree and add to the ice cream maker.

Once the ice cream is a good thick consistency add the rest of the raisins from the saucepan and churn again for another 15 minutes until the ice cream thickens up again.

Remove the Rum n' raisin ice cream from the ice cream maker bowl to a clean plastic container and freeze overnight.









To serve the ice cream with the Bread and butter pudding remove it from the freezer 10 minutes before you dish up so that it softens a little.


There it is then folks, another recipe to add to your collection! I hope you have enjoyed it and I hope you will have a go at making it yourself.

I'm hoping that I'm going to be able to do some more restaurant reviews for you soon, I have been to a couple of places recently that I want to review for you, but I've been enjoying the company too much to want to whip out my phone to take photo's!
Sometime over the next couple of weeks  I'm going to have to close the kitchen here at Chez Barnos for a much needed deep clean and re-paint but don't worry, I'll try and keep the recipe's coming every week for you. I think I've already decided what I'm doing for next weeks recipe. It's that good old fashioned picnic staple pork pie, watch out for it, it's an old family recipe!

Until next time then blog buddies!

Happy cooking!

Mat.