Hot-Cross-Buns Bread-and-Butter Pudding with Pears

Here's an excellent way to use up left-over hot cross buns: slice them, butter them, add a tin of pears and cloak them in a custard made with cream and the pears' syrup. I came up with this recipe yesterday as I was on the point of throwing out six hot cross buns I'd hidden in a cupboard last week and forgotten about.  The pud has a nice, light texture and is pleasantly spicy.  I've added lemon zest to the custard to cut through the richness of the spices, and the pears because I think South African tinned pears are quite delicious.  Lovely piping hot, with enormous dollops of cream.

Hot-Cross-Buns Bread-and-Butter Pudding with Pears

6 hot cross buns
75 ml (75 g) softened butter
a tin of pears, cubed (reserve the syrup)
the finely grated zest of a lemon
4 eggs
250 ml single cream
150 ml milk
4 T (60 ml) caster sugar
200 ml reserved pear syrup (see below)

Heat the oven to 160ºC. Cut the rounded ends off the buns and cut into 7-mm-thick slices. Generously butter each slice on one side. Arrange the slices in a 24-cm pie dish or baking dish, in overlapping rings. Tuck the pear cubes in amongst the slices. Sprinkle the lemon zest all over the slices.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, caster sugar and 200 ml of the pear syrup. (If there isn't enough in the tin, make it up to 200 ml with some extra milk). Strain the custard through a sieve over the hot cross bun slices. Cover with clingfilm and allow to stand for half an hour.

Sprinkle a little brown sugar on top of the pudding. Place the pudding in a bain-marie (a roasting dish filled with water; it should come three-quarters of the way up the sides of the dish) and bake at 160ºC for 40 minutes, or until the pudding is set but still has a delicate wobble in the middle.

Serve hot with cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6.

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