Apple Brown Betty Bread Pudding

If you’ve been reading along for a while, you might recall when I belonged to a group called Cooked in Translation.  The idea was to take a recipe and give it a twist into another culture.  I enjoyed the monthly challenge and was disappointed when the group fell apart.  This recipe is one I made for Cooked in Translation but never posted, a fusion of the American classic apple brown Betty and the English classic bread pudding.  As it’s apple season in the northern hemisphere, I thought this might be a good time to share it.  This is a comfort dessert, if there ever was one.  On both sides of the big pond.

Ingredients
1 cup or 200g dark brown sugar
1/2 cup or 115g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup or 240ml heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 slices or about 9-10 oz or 255-280g strong white or wheat bread
3 whole apples, preferably Granny Smith or similar
1/4 cup or about 55g butter plus extra for greasing the baking dish

Recommended for serving:  more heavy whipping cream

Method
Preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your baking dish by buttering it liberally and completely.   Don’t be shy with the butter here.

Mix the sugars together thoroughly with the salt.

Whisk your eggs with the whipping cream, milk and vanilla.

Slice bread into a small dice, or tear into very small pieces.

Peel, core and thinly slice your three apples.

Sprinkle a little less than one-third of the brown sugar in the buttered baking dish.

Then add about one-third of the apple slices then one-third of the bread cubes.

Repeat these layers twice more, finishing the last time with small chunks of butter rather than bread and the balance of the sugar mixture.

So it goes: Sugar, apples, bread - sugar, apples, bread - sugar, apples, sugar, butter.  Got it?  Easy peasy.

Pour on the whisked egg mixture and top with a bit of cling film.  Press down gently on the whole thing and leave to sit for a few minutes so that the bread absorbs the liquid.

Remove the cling film and cover the baking pan with foil.  Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 45 minutes.

Remove the foil in last five to 10 minutes of baking to brown the top.  This is most delicious served warm.

Bread pudding is one of my husband’s all-time favorite desserts and he insists that it is incomplete without a generous pour of whipping cream on top.  This now applies to Apple Brown Betty Bread Pudding.  Pour it on!

See the sticky syrup that was created?  YUM. 

Enjoy!