Name: Bread and Butter Pudding with Rich Whiskey Sauce
Ingredients: White bread - slices: 8; Sultanas or raisins: 0.75 cup; Irish whiskey: 3 tablespoons; Nutmeg - ground: 0.5 teaspoon; Granulated sugar: 0.75 cup; Large eggs: 2; Light or single cream: 1.25 cups; Milk: 2 cups (scant); Vanilla extract: 1 teaspoon; Light brown sugar: 3 tablespoons; Butter: 10 tablespoons; Granulated sugar: 0.5 cup; Large eggs: 1; Irish whiskey: 3 tablespoons

Comfort food for the raw Irish weather... or your own local chill. Choose a robustly flavored whiskey to hold its own against the sweetness and the fruit

Medium

Ingredients

For the pudding
8 White bread - slices
Buttered
0.75 cup Sultanas or raisins
3 tablespoons Irish whiskey
For soaking the fruit
0.5 teaspoon Nutmeg - ground
0.75 cup Granulated sugar
2 Large eggs
1.25 cups Light or single cream
2 cups (scant) Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
3 tablespoons Light brown sugar
For sprinkling
For the whiskey sauce
10 tablespoons Butter
0.5 cup Granulated sugar
1 Large eggs
3 tablespoons Irish whiskey

Directions

The climate in Ireland makes you want comfort food every now and then, and this dessert is one of the best kinds.

A century or so ago, bread and milk was a common suppertime or bedtime dish for children. Eventually someone got the idea of making it a little more special by baking it: and probably someone else later came up with the concept that such a very simple dish might be made more interesting by adding dried fruit, or fruit preparations like jam or marmalade. After that, especially where Irish cooks were concerned, when they started thinking about tinkering with this old favorite from their past, it was probably only a matter of time before the whiskey arrived. In this recipe, it goes into the sauce, an incredibly yummy almost-caramel sauce that has to be tasted to be believed.

About the whisky: EuroCuisineGuy (whose specialty is this kind of assessment) recommends Jameson’s, Paddy’s or Black Bush as whiskeys that would be able to stand up to the other ingredients and the baking process without being too aggressive. Lighter-flavored ones like Powers’ or plain Bushmills are more likely to get lost in the shuffle.

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Steps

1 Done	The evening before Put the dried fruit in a small bowl and add three tablespoons of whiskey. Allow to soak overnight. The fruit will plump up in the whiskey.
2 Done	Preheat the oven, prepare the bread Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Remove crusts from bread.
3 Done	Prepping the pudding Butter the bread slices. Put four slices of bread, buttered side down, in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the fruit, half the nutmeg and 1 tablespoon sugar. Place the remaining four slices of bread on top, buttered side down, and sprinkle again with nutmeg and 1 tablespoon sugar. Beat the eggs lightly. Add cream, milk, vanilla and the remaining sugar. Mix well. Pour this mixture over the bread: sprinkle light brown sugar on top.
4 Done	Baking the pudding Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until liquid is absorbed and pudding is risen and browned.
5 Done	Making the whiskey sauce Melt the butter in heavy pan, add sugar and dissolve over gentle heat. Remove from heat. Add the egg, whisking vigorously. Then add the whiskey. Whisk gently until combined.
6 Done	Serving Serve the pudding on hot serving plates: pour the whiskey sauce over. Extra whiskey sauce will keep well in the refrigerator for a week or so in a covered container. (It also works really well on French toast.)