A Year In Redwood

We’ve had a pretty crazy time lately with lots of people coming and going.  What I love about all of this is that we get lots of lovely foodie gifts.  Our friends know us so well!!!!

In the midst of all the friends coming and going I received an email asking me would I like to sample and write a recipe using some of the products from HolyArt. We always consider carefully any request like this, so looked at their range of products….. loved that they were organic and made by the nuns and monks.  I’m a bit partial to such stories, there is a family connection with Glenstal Abbey which is a story for another day.

We agreed to try the products, and to share a recipe.  Less than 24 hours letter we received our box of goodies.  That was on Good Friday.  Each of the products have been enjoyed separately, but this recipe combines the two.

You can imagine how bad I feel that I am only now getting around to sharing this recipe with you.  I told you it has been a crazy busy time.

Our gift box from HolyArt included a bar of dairy milk chocolate and a jar of marmalade…. a grapefruit and citrus marmalade to be precise.

Chocolate and Marmalade gift

We also had friends coming to stay over Easter… so it was time to get inventive.  I decided a dessert was what was called for as both, Lily and Alan, are quite partial to sweet things!

Somewhere in my brain, there was a memory of a Bread and Butter pudding made with ‘marmalade sandwiches’.  I also remember an absolutely divine chocolate bread pudding made by a friend years ago.  I decided to try to combine the two memories.  BTW we’d also had a visit from an old colleague now working in a bakery so he’d brought us loaves of low GI bread… not something we’d normally buy… but this was going to come in handy.

Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding with home-made ice-cream

Ingredients:

• 8 slices of brown or white bread (as I say I used the Low GI we’d been gifted)
• Butter
• Marmalade – Cedri & Pompelmi
• 2 teaspooons finely chopped candied peel (I had some that was another gift!)
• 2 ozs.  Trappisti milk chocolate
• 2 ozs. caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 12 oz. whole milk

Method:

Grease an appropriate sized dish.

Preheat your oven to 180 deg. C

Basically you make four ‘marmalade sandwiches’…. yes, butter the bread, before you put on the marmalade.  Cut your sandwiches into pretty triangles, and place them ‘pointy’ side up in your greased dish…. I decided to leave the crusts on.

Sprinkle over the sugar and candied peel.  Grate the chocolate over the mixture.

Beat your eggs and milk together and pour over your sandwiches.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 35 minutes.

I served the pudding with some of our home-made vanilla ice-cream.

There was enough in this for 4 desserts and some people even had seconds for breakfast the following morning!