Ingredients

• 75g/2½ oz raisins
• 100ml/3½fl oz cold tea
• 3 apples or 3 pears or a mixture of both
• squeeze lemon juice
• 400ml/14fl oz full-fat milk
• 125g/4½ oz unsalted butter
• plus extra for greasing
• 3 eggs
• 100g/3½ oz soft brown sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• freshly grated
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ large bread loaf
• can be a bit stale (or brioche)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar crystals

Directions

• First put the raisins in a small bowl
• add the cold tea and leave them to soak.
• Peel
• core and slice the apples or pears and keep them fresh in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lemon juice.
• Grease a baking dish and preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
• Gently warm the milk in a saucepan
• then add the butter and allow it to melt. Set the milk and butter aside to cool to lukewarm.
• Put the eggs
• sugar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg and vanilla in a bowl and beat with an electric handwhisk until well combined. Whisk in the buttery milk.
• Tear the bread into pieces
• keeping the crusts on or off depending on how posh you are
• and layer them in the greased baking dish. Strain the raisins
• discarding the tea
• and scatter them over the bread
• then top with the sliced fruit. Pour in the batter and sprinkle on brown sugar crystals.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes until the pudding has set and has a golden crust on top.
• Serve with ice cream or custard
• or try some soured cream for a change.