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Desserts

Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding

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Soft delicious custard soaked brioche with tasty Christmas Pudding and crispy edges. Once you have eaten this Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding, you will struggle to eat bread and butter pudding any other way again. 

What is bread and butter pudding?

Bread and butter pudding is a traditional British dessert. It is layers of buttered bread usually scattered with raisins and covered in an egg custard.

This is then baked in the oven with the top getting slightly crisp and the underneath deliciously gooey and creamy.

Don’t confuse bread and butter pudding with bread pudding! They are quite different.

As you’d expect, bread and butter pudding uses buttered bread. In this case as the brioche bread itself is so buttery, I drizzle it with a little melted butter rather than spread it on like with a traditional pudding.

Bread pudding is cubed bread soaked in a custard mixture and may not include fruit. It is often pressed to make a much denser pudding.

What is Christmas pudding?

Christmas pudding is a traditional British pudding typically served as dessert on Christmas Day.

Dating back to Victorian times, Christmas Pudding is packed with dried fruits, sugar, spices and alcohol. It is then steamed and stored in a dark place until Christmas Day. It is then steamed again before serving.

Obviously you can buy all sorts of different Christmas puddings from the supermarkets which you can handily heat in the microwave.

Creating Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding

This recipe is one of my absolute favourites that my Mum made every New Year’s Day. She’d made her delicious Honey Glazed Ham followed by this Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding. It was definitely a meal we all look forward to all year.

She found the inspiration for this recipe in a Sainsbury’s Magazine years ago and tweaked the recipe from the original Panettone version to be the one we know and love today using brioche, Cointreau and orange zest.

Which brioche is best to use?

I use a brioche loaf that you can buy in most large supermarkets for this Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding.

If you can’t find the loaf, most supermarkets also sell the small snack sized loaves which you could use.

I would avoid the chocolate chip brioches unless you are using a chocolate Christmas pudding (they do exist!).

Which Christmas Pudding is recommended?

There are so many different Christmas puddings out there these days. Lots of slightly different flavourings and sizes.

Pick whichever one appeals to you. Personally, I prefer to pick a Christmas pudding that doesn’t have nuts in it even though I do like nuts. So it really is about personal preference.

Either homemade or shop bought Christmas puddings would work for this bread and butter pudding. Why not try this Cheat’s Microwave Christmas Pudding?

Christmas Pudding isn’t my favourite

Apart from my Dad, none of my family are big fans of Christmas pudding. We rarely eat it on Christmas Day, or the days after. But we all love this bread and butter pudding.

This definitely is the best way to eat Christmas pudding. The soft, sweet brioche and the orange flavours really compliment the Christmas pudding and make it far more exciting than just eating Christmas pudding by itself.

I would definitely recommend giving this a go if you’re not the biggest fan of Christmas Pudding. I really think you will like it.

Adding lots of orange flavour

Orange is such a festive flavour to me and it works so well in this Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding.

The orange zest is a fantastic way of adding a lovely hit of orange flavour. The Cointreau is a lovely festive addition that also enhances the orange flavour.

If you didn’t want to use Cointreau then you could either leave it out or use orange juice instead.

Bread & Butter pudding leftovers

I have been known on more than one occasion to eat any leftovers for breakfast the next day. At Christmas you can get away with eating pretty much anything for breakfast so I take full advantage of this.

You can heat it up again in the oven or just use the microwave which is what I do. This still keeps the crispy bits of the brioche crisp.

This Bread & Butter Pudding will keep for 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Can this be made gluten free?

Yes it can be. You only need to make a few swaps to make this Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding gluten free.

Firstly make sure you buy a gluten free Christmas Pudding. And then use gluten free brioche. These might be rolls, but this is fine because you are cutting it into chunks anyway.

How to serve this Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding

My preferred way of serving this is with lots of double cream; and I mean lot of cream. Double cream is a glorious thing and should never be used sparingly in my opinion!

You could also serve it with Homemade Custard, Brandy Butter or even ice cream. It’s Christmas – be indulgent!

Other recipes you might like

  • Gluten Free Nutella Choux Buns
  • Raspberry & Mascarpone Sponge Pudding
  • Baked Marble Chocolate Cheesecake
  • Chocolate Orange Tray Bake 
  • Mincemeat & Almond Cake 

 

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5 from 8 votes
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Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding

Soft delicious custard soaked brioche with tasty Christmas Pudding and crispy edges. Once you have eaten this Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding, you will struggle to eat bread and butter pudding any other way again. 

Course Dessert
Cuisine French, British
Keyword Bread and Butter Pudding, Brioche, Christmas Pudding
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Calories 506 kcal
Author Curly

Ingredients

  • 225 g brioche
  • 450 g Christmas pudding
  • 75 g unsalted butter melted
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 40 g caster sugar
  • 225 ml milk
  • 150 ml double cream
  • Zest of one orange
  • 2 tbsp Cointreau
  • Pinch of salt
  • Icing sugar for dusting

Instructions

  1. Cut the Christmas pudding into roughly 2cm chunks. Add to a microwaveable bowl and heat for one minute to soften the pudding

  2. Brush the inside of an ovenproof dish (with a capacity of 3 pints) with some of the melted butter

  3. Cut the brioche into roughly the same sized pieces as the Christmas pudding and add both to the buttered dish 

  4. Spoon the remaining butter over the brioche only 

  5. Beat together the eggs, extra yolks and sugar until pale and fluffy

  6. Add the cream, milk, orange zest, Cointreau and salt and mix to combine 

  7. Pour the liquid mix over dish and allow to soak for 15 minutes

  8. Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan assisted). Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until it is just set and a lovely brown colour 

  9. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before dusting with icing sugar and serving

Recipe Notes

Keep the pudding in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat in the microwave until piping hot. 

Nutritional information is given as a guide only and may vary.

Nutrition Facts
Brioche & Christmas Pudding Bread & Butter Pudding
Amount Per Serving
Calories 506 Calories from Fat 198
% Daily Value*
Fat 22g34%
Saturated Fat 13g81%
Cholesterol 137mg46%
Sodium 164mg7%
Potassium 66mg2%
Carbohydrates 19g6%
Sugar 6g7%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 855IU17%
Vitamin C 0.1mg0%
Calcium 68mg7%
Iron 0.5mg3%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

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27 Comments

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gregg Toney says

    December 27, 2017 at 8:10 pm

    This looks terrific! Have a great holiday

    Reply
    • Cat says

      December 28, 2017 at 5:45 pm

      Thank you, you too!

      Reply
      • A-M says

        December 28, 2019 at 2:47 pm

        We made this Boxing Day (2019) and all 6 of us really
        enjoyed it immensely, though none of us really like Xmas pudding on its own.
        Brilliant recipe, many thanks to you for sharing it, and to your mum for having developed it to work so well!

        A-M

        Reply
        • Curly says

          January 6, 2020 at 4:43 pm

          I am so pleased you all liked it! It’s definitely the best way to eat Christmas pudding in my opinion! Thank you for commenting 🙂

          Reply
  2. Corina Blum says

    January 4, 2018 at 8:55 pm

    This sounds wonderful! Unlike you I am a big fan of Christmas pudding and I’d have to make sure we bought a big one so there’d be enough leftovers to make this the next day! Thanks so much for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice

    Reply
    • Cat says

      January 4, 2018 at 10:07 pm

      Ah you’ll love this then 🙂 x

      Reply
  3. Kat (The Baking Explorer) says

    January 5, 2018 at 10:01 am

    Wow this sounds so indulgent and such a treat! I’m not a huge Christmas pudding fan but I reckon I would happily eat it in this form!

    Reply
    • Cat says

      January 5, 2018 at 2:45 pm

      You should definitely try it 🙂 x

      Reply
  4. jenny walters says

    January 5, 2018 at 5:01 pm

    Gosh Cat this looks absolutely incredible…I am going to do my damndest to cook this next Xmas! What a brilliant Xmas dessert!

    Reply
    • Cat says

      January 5, 2018 at 9:22 pm

      Thank you 🙂 I’m sure you’ll love it x

      Reply
  5. Jenny Paulin says

    January 7, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    mmmmm this looks and sounds delicious Cat. Such a great way of using up leftover xmas pudding too. I also love your photos – did you take these with your new camera?
    thank you for liking to #Bakeoftheweek x

    Reply
    • Cat says

      January 7, 2018 at 9:22 pm

      Thanks 🙂 Yes these are with my new camera x

      Reply
  6. Helen at Casa Costello says

    January 13, 2018 at 11:46 am

    Cor what a comforting sounds dish! I love your creativity. Happy New Year to you. Thanks for all your support for #BakeoftheWeek over the past few months. New roundup now open x

    Reply
    • Cat says

      January 14, 2018 at 7:03 pm

      It is so incredibly delicious. Something I look forward to all year!x

      Reply
  7. Jacqueline Meldrum says

    November 30, 2018 at 1:26 pm

    5 stars
    A nice idea to mix the two. I bet it’s delicious. Sharing this now!

    Reply
    • Curly says

      December 3, 2018 at 2:03 pm

      Thanks. I look forward to eating this all year!

      Reply
  8. Sara | Belly Rumbles says

    December 1, 2018 at 3:45 am

    5 stars
    How gorgeously rich, decadent and delicious. I would totally skip dinner and just have a big bowl of this on it’s own. I love that you have added Cointreau.

    Reply
    • Curly says

      December 3, 2018 at 2:04 pm

      Haha I like your style! I have had this for breakfast more than once!

      Reply
  9. Bev says

    December 2, 2018 at 2:56 am

    5 stars
    This looks so so yummy! Where did you find that adorable bird towel? It is gorgeous!

    Reply
    • Curly says

      December 3, 2018 at 2:02 pm

      Thanks 🙂 It’s a table runner from Sainsbury’s. I love robins.

      Reply
  10. anna says

    December 2, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    5 stars
    this is such a festive treat!!

    Reply
  11. Nickki says

    December 4, 2018 at 9:28 am

    5 stars
    Oh WOW this looks totally delicious! I love the idea of combining brioche and Christmas pudding! It bet it tastes amazing. I’ll be trying this for sure!

    Reply
  12. Janice says

    December 15, 2022 at 4:26 pm

    5 stars
    Such a delicious way to use leftover Christmas pudding. I love how the brioche lightens this yummy dessert.

    Reply
  13. Chloe says

    January 22, 2023 at 2:05 pm

    5 stars
    This is definitely something I’ll be making next Christmas, I’m just sorry I missed it this year!

    Reply
    • Curly says

      January 22, 2023 at 2:33 pm

      As the saying goes, there’s always next year!

      Reply
  14. Julie says

    March 27, 2024 at 9:02 pm

    Hi, Does this need to be left over cooked Christmas pudding, or can I use a fresh bought one?

    Reply
    • Curly says

      March 28, 2024 at 10:44 pm

      Hi Julie, you can absolutely use fresh Christmas pudding. I always use fresh because I only eat Christmas pudding for this recipe.

      Reply
5 from 8 votes (1 rating without comment)

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Hi, I'm Cat aka Curly. I'm a home cook that likes nothing better than a day in the kitchen baking and cooking. Whether its sweet or savoury, in my mind food is always the answer. Meet Curly

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