January indulgence (aka best leftovers ever)!

True to form I shared health food in December now I can't resist a cheeky pudding for January. Yes its post Christmas and we're all battling the bulge but that should mean balance rather than abstinence! This was more a war on waste mission as my flatmate had bought herself some chocolate brioche before Christmas and has now gone sugar free for January. Not one to waste even a crumb of food I had to find a way to use up these sad, stale brioche. I also used the small bit of double cream I had leftover to fatten up my semi-skimmed milk. This would work with any kind of stale bread, pastry, pantone or pomodoro so make sure you get your leftovers to work. I've got to say the result was amazing and I was chuffed to bits!

Now I have to apologise for the ugly baking tray background - I had no intention of posting this as a recipe as it was developed out of pure greed but it was so good it seemed selfish to keep it!

Chocolate brioche bread and butter pudding

4 chocolate chip brioche buns, stale
3 large eggs
Drizzle of leftover double cream (30-50ml?) made up to 200ml with semi-skimmed milk (200ml whole milk would work equally well but I went with what I had in the fridge)
Splash of vanilla extract
2 tbsp golden caster sugar + extra for dusting over the top
Optional extras of butter and a few chunks of dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Chop up your brioche buns and arrange in an oven-proof dish, if you're feeling really decadent spread each chunk with a bit of butter (optional).
Put your cream/milk and eggs in a measuring jug or small bowl and beat together.
Mix in the vanilla extract and a scattering of golden caster sugar (about 2 tbsp).
Pour the liquids over the bread, push down into the custard mix and leave to soak for about half an hour (up to 2 hours if you can wait that long).
Just before it goes in the oven you have the option of adding a few chunks of dark chocolate in the custardy gaps, then sprinkle some sugar over the surface to create a crunchy topping.
Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until set, leave to cool slightly (essential to allow the custard to set properly) and then tuck in!