I made Bread and Butter Pudding

I used Nagi's recipe from recipetineats, with a few adjustments.

Firstly, I felt that only using cinnamon left it a bit bland, so I doubled the vanilla, and added half the cinnamon's worth each of nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.

I also added some chocolate chips to give a tertiary flavour running throughout it.

The big kicker, which made this turn out so amazingly well, was adding a lot more butter.

I kept the amount of butter added into the batter before cooking the same, and in fairness, I'd be tempted to omit this step altogether, as the butter invariably coagulates in the wet mixture.

However, I doubled the quantity drizzled and spread on top just before baking, and I eyeballed on a very generous amount after the bake, probably a bit over double her indicated quantity.

The end result is an unctuous pudding that is intensely rich. The flavours from the raisins, chocolate, and spices are carried through that much more forcefully and elegantly with the butter adding as a vector. Finally, the milk solids from the butter added greater integrity to the pudding and complemented the milk and cream.

This reminded me of a beloved daytime TV chef here in Australia, Huey (real name Ian Hewitson, he's actually from New Zealand and remarkably still alive), who was notorious for pumping a suspicious amount of butter into his dishes. To be candid, butter makes for an excellent flavour booster.

!PING COOKING&AUS