Hot Cross Bun Pudding

Hot Cross Bun Pudding is a wonderful Easter treat. I love Easter for so many reasons. As a Christian it is one of the highlights of the journey of faith I make every year, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. On the secular side, it’s also a time to enjoy a long weekend, time with family and friends and lots of wonderful food and treats. And of course, it’s not Easter without hot cross buns.

Hot cross buns were traditionally eaten on Good Friday, a treat to mark the end of Lent, but with a cross on the top to remind us of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nowadays, you can get hot cross buns all year round but I only eat them at Easter time out of principle. The trouble is, this means I sometimes buy a few too many and end up with hot cross buns that are a little on the dry side. The solution? Hot Cross Bun Pudding, a tasty twist on traditional bread and butter pudding. This year I tried a new recipe for this treat, a lovely version from Rachel’s Organic.

I won’t fib, this isn’t the way I normally make bread and butter pudding. My method varies quite considerably but I was intrigued by the addition of yogurt to this recipe so I was keen to give it a try.

Rachel’s Organic recently launched a range of Greek Style Yogurts and the recipe calls for their new Greek Style Natural Bio Live Yogurt. I knew it would give a great result – yogurt always adds wonderful flavour to baked goods. However, I always like to add a hint of lemon to rich and creamy dessert recipes so I was really tempted by the idea of using their new Greek Style Lemon Yogurt. I’m very glad I did as it really added a lovely flavour.

I’d encourage you to use a small baking dish for this recipe, one just big enough to hold four hot cross buns. This will allow the custard to really surround the buns and bake up round them. I used a heart shaped dish which worked pretty well but I would have liked the custard to envelop the buns a little bit more. Also be sure to serve the pudding soon after it is cooked as it is much better fresh and warm. We had one serving left over as there are only three of us and I tried re-warming it. It did taste good but like most bread and butter puddings, this is a dessert best served on the day it is made.

Hot cross bun pudding really is a delicious way to use up leftover hot cross buns and although it is very much a dessert, so not healthy per se, it does contain lots of wholesome ingredients – eggs, milk and of course, Rachel’s Organic yogurt.

Created by: April J Harris

Hot Cross Bun Pudding

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Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• 4 hot cross buns sliced in half
• 15 grams softened unsalted butter I used 2 tablespoons plus extra to grease the pan
• 320 ml I used about 11 ounces double (heavy) cream
• 100 ml whole milk I used 4 ounces
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 grams that is a generous ⅓ cup Rachel's Greek Style Natural Bio Live Yogurt (or Greek Style Lemon Yogurt)
• 1 teaspoon demerera sugar I used a couple of teaspoons in the end

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F / Gas Mark 3.
• Grease a 1 litre ovenproof dish with a little butter.
• Spread the hot cross bun slices with butter on both the internal sides.
• Arrange the buns in the ovenproof dish with the buttered sides together and the cross sides face up.
• In a small pan, heat the cream and milk together until just warm.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolk.
• Temper the eggs by adding a bit of the heated cream and milk and whisking rapidly. Add a little more, whisk and then add the remainder, whisking all the while. (This avoids scrambled eggs!)
• Add the yogurt and whisk together.
• Pour the mixture over the buns a little at a time, making sure it has time to soak in. (I gently lifted the tops of the hot cross buns to make sure the bottoms were thoroughly soaked, then replaced the lids and continued pouring the custard mixture over the buns.)
• Sprinkle the pudding with the demerera sugar.
• Place the ovenproof dish on a baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until the pudding is puffed up, set and golden brown.
• Serve with custard or cream.

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If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Chocolate and Blueberry Pudding Cake.

Disclosure: I received vouchers to purchase Rachel’s Organic Yogurts in order to facilitate this post.