It was really nice to have a holiday away, despite all the rain, but it was ever so nice to come home again too. Home always feels extra special nice when you have been away from it for a while, don't you think??? Home is where you hang your heart.
I brought home half a loaf of a country farm bread that I had picked up at the Farm shop the other day, and I wanted to use it all up before it went moldy. So today I thought I would make the Toddster one of his favourite puddings . . . a tasty bread and butter pudding . . .
Except I decided to add a bit of a twist. I thought to add marmelade, and then I thought . . . (you all know what happens then, don't you?)
The lights went on and I remembered my mother's delicious Feather Squares. She only ever made them at Christmas . . . the bottom being a delicious buttery sponge, spread with raspberry jam . . . spread with a sweet meringue and sprinkled with coconut and then toasted all scrummily brown. Oh, they are so good!!!
I decided to make my bread and butter pudding in honor of those lovely Feather Squares and so I made it with raspberry jam sandwiches. I added a bit of fresh lemon zest to the custard and then I sprinkled the top with some flaked and sweetened coconut.
Oh my, but doesn't that look positively scrumdiddlyumptious???
I thought so too!! And the best is . . . it tastes even better than it looks!!
*Raspberry Feather Bread and Butter Pudding*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A fancified bread and butter pudding based on my mother's Raspberry Feather squares. Nostalgic and scrummy.
8 slices of stale bread (use a sturdy loaf), crusts trimmed off
(Feed to the birds)
seedless raspberry jam
softened butter
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 heaped dessertspoons of golden caster sugar
1000ml of whole milk (4 cups)
the grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
a handful of flaked coconut
Make 4 raspberry jam sandwiches using the bread and jam. Butter the outsides and cut into quarters. Arrange in a shallow, buttered baking dish, fitting in snuggly.
Beat together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, milk and lemon zest. Pour over the jam sandwiches in the buttered dish. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Sprinkle the soaked pudding with the flaked coconut. Cover loosely with foil and then bake in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer, until risen, set and lightly browned. Don't worry if it falls after you take it out of the oven. That is supposed to happen.
Over at the Cottage . . . delicious Skillet Beef Burritos.
(My Easy Bread)
One of the consequences of there only being two of us in this house and eating most of the time is the fact that we have a difficult time using up a loaf of bread before it goes stale.
This is a cookery book I have had for a while, by Tamasin Day-Lewis. It's a jewel. It's filled with lots of lovely recipes for dishes that are not only economical but also delicious.
I love cooking and the beautiful chemistry that happens when you throw ingredients together. Sometimes it is so amazing.
And that is exactly what this is . . . a magically delicious soup! Made from simple ingredients, put together in a simple manner.
The best extra virgin olive oil your money can buy. It matters.
Fresh parsley and fresh garlic. Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper. A good cheese for grating.
Something very magical happens. Trust me on this. It's absolutely gorgeous! A new favourite! Simple. Easy. Delicious and Quick!
The most delicious soup from nothing but stock, bread crumbs and a bit of garlic, parsley and seasoning. Oh, I do love recipes such as this which help to celebrate simple ingredients and methods in a most delicious way. I believe in Italy this is called Pancotto. You will want to use a good quality rustic styled bread loaf for this, preferably a couple of days old.
I do so love my computer. Having a computer has added such a special dimension to my life. I have met some really special people via this medium and been able to experience a lot of really wonderful things that I might not have had I not been the owner of a computer and the author of several blogs!
I have always stored my photos on photobucket and pay a hefty price for the priviledge. That is where I keep all of my food photos and normally it's worked very well for me . . . until a couple of days ago. I literally have not been able to get the site to load for me, which is very frustrating for me as almost all of my food photos are on there, and I can't get at them! Grrrrrr!!!! I am really hoping and praying it is a temporary blip!
Anyways, all of the recipes and reviews I have in my queue to post will have to wait until I can get access to my photos and I am really hoping that will be soon, or else I will be spitting feathers . . . and trust me, you do not want to see that! It ain't pretty!
Thankfully I had the wherewithall to upload a few photos to my google account the other day and so I can show you this fab recipe here today. It's like a type of strata . . . a bread and egg pudding, sort of like a savory bread pudding.
They make excellent use of stale bread and other bits. The other day I decided to make it like a BLT sandwich and it worked out fabulous! This was soooooo tasty.
I simply made some sandwiches with some stale bread, filling them with crumbled bacon, grated cheddar, finely sliced leeks and some slices tomatoes . . . place them into a baking dish and then poured a savoury egg custard mix over top.
It was so delicious and went down a real treat with a nice mixed salad with a French Vinaigrette. Super duper tasty! I love that it was also quite thrifty and I made good use of a stale loaf of French bread, and a few other bits that needed using. I love it when that happens!
Kind of like a savoury bread and butter pudding made with Bacon, Cheese, Tomato and Leek sandwiches. You can use sliced onions if you don't have any leeks. It's quite delicious!
a stale french loaf
salt and pepper to taste
Butter a 10 inch glass pie dish.
Spread each slice of the bread thickly with butter on one side only. Mix together the sliced leeks, grated cheese and crumbled bacon. Divide 3/4 of this mixture between half of the slices on the unbuttered sides. Top each with two half moons of tomato. Place another slice of bread, buttered side up on top. Cut in half and place into the pie dish cut side down, to fill the dish. Sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese mixture.
Beat the eggs together with the mustard and milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over top of the sandwiches. Allow to stand for half an hour before cooking so that it can absorb as much as possible.
Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Bake the pudding in the heated oven for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve. A salad goes nice with this.
Here's hoping that photo bucket is working tomorrow!
I am so excited to be able to tell you this morning that I have finally finished my fourth Cookbooklet. Entitled Recipes to Keep it is a little goldmine of my all time favourite recipes, the ones that I turn to again and again, indeed my family favourites, gleaned from a lifetime of cooking for my family and loved ones.
40 pages containing over 40 new, never before posted recipes from my big blue binder that contain some of my all time favourites. Recipes such as Cindy's Portuguese Gumdrop Cake ( a must for our Christmas larder each year for over 20 years!) , Runny Butter Tarts (a fail proof recipe I have been using for over 30 years for the best butter tarts you could want to eat), Onion Patties (who needs to go to all the faff of making onion rings when you can just drop them as simple patties!), The Best Ever Tomato and Meat Sauce, and a whole lot more. Destined to become your family favourites too . . . in short, recipes to keep.
It's available now as a PDF Download, mailed right to your home, and at the same low price as all of my other cookbooklets. You will find the link up there on underneath my header on the page called Cookbooklets!
Thanks for visiting and have a great day!
This coming Sunday in the UK is what is commonly known as Stir-Up Sunday. Stir-up Sunday is a term which has been used in the Anglican Church in the UK for the last Sunday before the season of Advent.
It gets its name from the beginning of the collect for the day in the Book of Common Prayer, which begins with the words, "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people".
Traditionally this has been the day each year that people make their Christmas Puddings! Its time to pop on some Christmas Music and your apron and begin your Christmas prep for this year's festivities.
Christmas is going to be a bit different for most people this year, but there is no reason why we can't still enjoy some of our traditional treats. When it comes to Christmas Puddings, Mary Berry's Christmas Pudding is a recipe which I have made many, many times. Like all of her recipes it is reliable and fool-proof!
Christmas (or Plum) Pudding is the traditional end to the British Christmas dinner. But what we think of as Christmas Pudding, is not what it was originally like!

Stir-up-Sunday is usually a family affair. Each family member is supposed to stir the mixture from East to West to honour the journey of the Magi. This ritual is also thought to bring the family luck and prosperity in the coming year.
At one time it was also customary to hide a number of small trinkets in
the mixture, a bit like the twelfth night cake. These charms often
included a silver coin (wealth), and a ring (future marriage). Woe
betide the guest who stumbled across a thimble in their serving. A
future of Spinsterhood was a cert for them! Nowadays this generally
isn't done, although my husband does remember his mom putting coins into
theirs.
The fruit mixture of the pudding is usually a mix of dried figs, currants, raisins, golden raisins, cherries and candied ginger. All are mixed together in a bowl the night before you go to make your pudding and a portion of brandy is poured over top and the fruit left to macerate in this overnight on the counter top. A clean towel over top to keep it safe from dust and insects. If you don't like to use alcohol, you can use orange juice in an equivalent amount.
Mary Berry's recipe differs slightly in that there is no figs or ginger, and you have no need to soak the fruit overnight, which is a bonus!
I am all for time saving if I can, and if Mary Berry only soaks her fruit for an hour, that's good enough for me! Softened butter is creamed together with soft light brown sugar, orange zest, and ground mixed spice.
(You can easily make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.)
Eggs also gets beaten into this, a bit at a time so it doesn't curdle. Don't worry if it does, you can always stir in a bit of the flour to fix this.
Fresh soft bread crumbs are also a part of the mix, along with chopped blanched almonds and self rising flour. You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour needed. I always make my own, especially now during the time of Covid when I can't always access what I need.
Mary Berry's Christmas Pudding

Ingredients
- 1 pound (450g) dried mixed fruit (sultanas, raisins, glace cherries and chopped dried apricots)
- 1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and chopped
- the grated rind of one medium orange
- the juice of one medium orange
- 3 TBS brandy (plus extra to flame)
- 5 1/2 TBS butter, sofened, plus more to butter the pudding mold
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large free-range eggs
- 3/4 cup (100g) self-rising flour
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 2/3 cup (40g) soft white bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup (40g) whole blanched almonds, roughly chopped
- scant 1/2 cup (100g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 3/4 cup (8 ounces) sifted icing sugar
- 3 TBS brandy
- 4 TBS brandy
Instructions
- Measure all of the fruit into a bowl. Add the brandy and orange juice. Leave to macerate for about an hour.
- Cream the butter together with the orange zest and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, until thoroughly combined. If the mixture starts to curdle stir in a spoonful of the flour.
- Sift together the flour and mixed spice. Fold this into the creamed mixture along with the bread crumbs and nuts. Stir in the soaked fruit along with any juices. Mix well together.
- Generously butter a 2 1/2 pint (5 cup) pudding basin. Cut a piece of baking paper into a circle large enough to cover the bottom of the basin.
- Spoon the pudding batter into the basin, smoothing over the top with the back of a spoon.
- Have ready a large piece of baking paper and a sheet of foil. Place the paper on top of the foil, making a pleat across the middle to allow for expansion. Tie securely over top of the pudding with some kitchen string. Trim off any excess.
- To Steam: put the pudding in the top of a steamer filled with simmering water, cover with a lid and steam for eight hours, topping up the water as necessary.
- To Boil: put a metal jam jar lid, or metal pan lid, into the base of a large pan to act as a trivet. Place a long, doubled strip of foil in the pan, between the trivet and the pudding basin, ensuring the ends of the strip reach up and hang over the edges of the pan. This will help you to lift the heavy pudding basin out of the pan of hot water when it has finished cooking. Lower the pudding onto the trivet and pour in enough boiling water to come half way up the side of the bowl. Cover with a lid, bring the water back to the boil, then simmer for about seven hours, until the pudding is a glorious deep brown colour, topping up the water as necessary.
- Once cooked, remove the pudding from the pan. Remove and discard the paper and foil. Replace with fresh. Store, covered, in a dry cool place.
- On Christmas Day make the brandy butter by beaing the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the sifted icing sugar until smooth. Stir in the brandy and spoon into a serving dish. Cover and chill until needed.
- Steam or boil the pudding for about two hours to reheat. Turn onto a decorative, heat proof serving plate. To flame, warm the brandy or rum in a small saucepan. Pour it over the hot pudding and very carefuly set light to it with a match.
- Serve the pudding hot, spooned into bowls with a dab of brandy butter on top. Pouring cream goes very nicely with this.
notes:
To make your own mixed spice: Combine 1 TBS ground cinnamon, 1 tsp each of ground coriander and nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger, 1/4 tsp each of ground cloves and all spice. Mix well and store in an airtight container out of the light for up to 6 months.
To make your own self-rising flour: You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour needed.
Did you make this recipe?
You really cannot fault any of Mary Berry's recipes. If you follow them scrupulously, they always turn out and are fail proof! I have never had a failure with any of them!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
- 2 cups (280g) all purpose plain flour
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped nuts
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (3 bananas) mashed bananas (very ripe)
Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280g) all purpose plain flour
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (60g) finely chopped nuts
- 1 large free range egg, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup (180ml) milk
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups (3 bananas) mashed bananas
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 X 5 X 3 inch loaf tin and line with baking paper with an overhang on two sides for ease of lifting out the baked loaf.
- Whisk the flour, soda, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Stir in the nuts.
- Whisk together the mashed banana, milk, oil, and egg. Add to the dry ingredients and mix both together just to combine. Batter will be lumpy.
- Turn into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and run a knife down the middle.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 65 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.


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