Bread and Butter Pudding

This recipe is actually a combination of two different recipes. The original bread and butter pudding recipe is from Halwafy and the crust comes from an apricot cobbler recipe taken from a magazine. The recipe below is basically adapted for those who like sweet stuff but don't want it too sweet.

INGREDIENTS:

6 slices day-old bread

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup raisins/ mixed fruit

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

1/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.Cut bread into triangles and arrange first layer of bread in an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. Sprinkle half the raisins. Then arrange 2nd layer of bread and drizzle butter over the bread. Sprinkle the rest of the raisins.In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Above is the basic recipe for bread pudding. If you want a cake crust on top, before baking, mix the following ingredients:
TOPPING
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar (I usually reduce this to 1/4 cup.)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter, softened

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add egg and butter; mix well. spoon over pudding and put in oven.

Good luck baking. I've had it from friends that the added crust on the bread pudding gives it extra oomph. Also I'd like to say thanks to Tricia for dropping me a line. Well, I'd just like to say that where credit is due, credit should be given. Thank you to your mom for spreading so much joy through her cooking.

Tried and Tested Baked Cheesecake

Been wanting to post this in this blog for ages but never had the time. Now I am making the time as I am waiting for my cheesecake to bake in the oven.

Today, I baked my cheesecake a little differently.
Instead of using Digestive or Marie, I used 14 pieces of IKO biscuits - a mixture of the oatmeal biscuits and the ones that have pumpkin seeds in them. Used also about a third of a 250gm butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar as base.

500gm Philadelphia Cream Cheese + 1/3 cup and 1 extra spoon of sugar, still 2 eggs, 150ml apple yogurt (Dutch lady) and 3 spoons of lemon juice.

I reduced the sugar coz this yogurt is sweeter and increased the lemon juice coz the yogurt's not as sour as the original flavored one.

Had to improvise coz my plain yogurt has expired and I didn't want people having stomach ache or worse just because I wanted to save the yogurt.

Anyway, here's the original recipe:
Here are the ingredients:
Biscuit base:
1 cup crushed Marie biscuits (that's about 12-13 pieces) OR you can use digestive biscuits and reduce the sugar
1/3 to 1/2 cup melted butter
1 tbsp brown sugar

250 gm x 2 Philadelphia Cream Cheese + 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 container plain yogurt (150 ml)
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the base, crush 12 to 13 pieces of Marie biscuits, they don't have to be very fine. Then add melted butter and 1 tbsp brown sugar to the biscuit crumbs. Mix well, then press evenly in a 7 in" cake tin with a fork.Then, cream the cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg one by one, then the yogurt and lastly the lemon juice. Pour onto biscuit base and put into a preheated oven at 180 deg C for 45 minutes. Then cover with foil paper and bake for another 15 to 30 minutes.

Try it. It's my hubby's fave cheesecake