Gingernut bread pudding

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 10 slices of white bread, crusts removed
• 100g ready-to-eat dried figs
• 100g ready-to-eat dried apricots
• 75g gingernut biscuits, crushed
• 50g flaked almonds, toasted
• 750ml skimmed milk
• 2 large free-range eggs
• 40g caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split, seeds removed
• 65ml amaretto (almond liqueur; optional)
• 65ml reduced-sugar apricot jam, warmed
• Icing sugar for dusting

Method

• Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2.
• Brush the maple syrup over the bread slices, then cut the bread into large cubes and place in a bowl. Add the dried fruits, gingernut biscuits and toasted almonds. Scatter the bread and fruit evenly over the base of a 1.2 litre ovenproof dish.
• In a bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and amaretto liqueur, if using. Pour the milk mixture over the fruit and bread, ensuring all the bread is immersed in the milk.
• In the oven, heat a large roasting tin containing enough water to come halfway up the sides of the ovenproof dish.
• Place the ovenproof dish in the roasting-tin water and bake the pudding in the oven for 45-50 minutes until the top is lightly golden and it is just set. Remove and allow to cool slightly, then brush all over with the apricot jam. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Per serving: 619 kcals, 16g fat, 3g saturated fat, 0.72g sodium

Please note the image above is for illustrative purposes only, and is not an original photograph of the dish described.

Extracted from: Healthy Eating for Your Heart by Paul Gayler with Jacqui Lynas BSc RD (Kyle Cathie), £12.99) with photography by Peter Cassidy.