If you’ve got leftover hot cross buns, this super-easy hot cross bun bread and butter pudding is the BEST way to bring them back to life. Soft and custardy in the middle, golden on top, and ridiculously delicious.
Table of Contents
- Why Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding Works
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- How to Make Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding
- Kate’s Top Bread and Butter Pudding Tip
- Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding FAQs
- Watch How to Make Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding
- Like this recipe? Try these easy baking ideas next
- EASY Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding Recipe
Why Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding Works
If you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have a few sad, slightly hot cross buns hanging around your kitchen after Easter.
Bread and butter pudding is an easy, delicious way to use them up. It’s cozy, nostalgic comfort food, with a little Easter twist.
- Perfect for slightly stale, leftover hot cross buns. Stale buns are actually better than fresh here – they soak up the custard beautifully without going too mushy or soggy.
- No stovetop custard needed. Instead of making a fiddly custard on the stove, just whisk the ingredients in a bowl and pour them over the buns. Much easier!
- Super simple to make. Just butter and layer the buns, pour over the custard mixture, and bake until golden and glorious.
- Easy to make extra indulgent. I LOVE adding crushed chocolate eggs or chunks of Easter chocolate between the layers for lovely gooey chocolate surprises in every bite. Or, I often use my mini egg chocolate hot cross buns.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Hot cross buns. Regular or chocolate hot cross buns both work beautifully, so use what you have. Slightly stale buns are actually perfect for this recipe because they absorb the custard better, but fresh buns are fine too. If your buns are super fresh, slice them in half and leave them out for an hour or so before using them – this will help them soak up the custard better.
- Milk. Whole milk gives the richest, creamy flavor, but semi-skimmed, skimmed, or your favorite plant-based milk will work too.
- Cream. I’m using heavy (double cream) for extra richness.
- Easter chocolate (optional). If you’ve got leftover chocolate eggs or Easter chocolate, I love to break them up and scatter them between and on top of the buns. They’ll melt into gooey chocolate pockets throughout the pudding (never a bad thing!)
How to Make Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding
This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the bread and butter pudding – the full, detailed recipe with ingredient quantities is at the bottom of the page for you.
- Whisk the eggs in a large bowl, then pour in the milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk again to combine.
- Butter an ovenproof dish, then slice your hot cross buns in half and butter both sides. Layer the bottom sides of the buns in your dish. It’s ok to tear the buns apart to make them fit.
- Pour half the custard mix over the exposed buns. Scatter with chocolate eggs if you like.
- Place the remaining buns on top and pour the rest of the custard mixture all over. Leave them to soak for at least 15 minutes. As the buns soak and sink into the custard mixture, you can press them down further.
- Bake until the buns are looking golden and crispy on top and the custard is set. PRO TIP: Check your pudding three-quarters of the way through – if the buns look very golden on top, place a layer of aluminium foil over them so that they don’t burn.
Kate’s Top Bread and Butter Pudding Tip
Let the buns sit and soak in the custard for at least 15 minutes before baking, if possible.
It helps them soak up all that lovely custard and will give you a gorgeously soft, creamy pudding all the way through.
Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding FAQs
Yes! This is a great recipe for using up stale buns, but fresh ones will work really well too.
If they’re super fresh, you can slice them and leave them out for an hour or so before you use them. This will help to dry them out a little so they’ll absorb the custard better.
Yes, you can. There are two options here:
Assemble ahead. Layer the buns and pour over the custard, then cover the dish and pop it into the fridge for up to 24 hours before baking. Add five or so minutes onto the baking time to account for it being cold from the fridge.
Bake and reheat. Bake the pudding, then cover it with foil and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days until you’re ready to reheat. You can reheat it, covered in the foil, at 350°F (180°C fan) for about 20 minutes, or until warmed through. The foil helps prevent the tops of the buns from burning.
Any leftovers will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge, stored in an airtight container. Either reheat individual portions in the microwave (or air fryer) until piping hot, or warm the whole dish in the oven.
I recommend it if you have time. Even letting the assembled pudding sit for 15 minutes will help the buns absorb the custard well before baking.
This will give you lovely soft, custardy buns rather than any dry bread in the middle.
Bread and butter pudding is a classic British dessert, made by layering buttered bread with custard and baking until soft and custardy in the middle.
It’s traditionally made with sliced bread and raisins, but these days there are SO many gorgeous variations. Hot cross buns are an excellent sliced bread replacement because they already contain lots of spices and dried fruit.
Watch How to Make Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding
Like this recipe? Try these easy baking ideas next
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EASY Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
If you’ve got leftover hot cross buns, this super-easy hot cross bun bread and butter pudding is the BEST way to bring them back to life. Soft and custardy in the middle, golden on top, and ridiculously delicious.
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy (double) cream
- 1/3 cup caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 hot cross buns
- 3 tablespoons butter
- Chocolate mini Easter eggs (optional)
Instructions
- Make the custard mix. Grease a large ovenproof dish with butter and heat your oven to 350°F (180°C fan). Add the 3 eggs to a large mixing bowl and whisk them together. Add 1 ½ cups of milk, 1 cup of cream, ⅓ cup caster sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Whisk to combine well with the eggs and set aside.
- Arrange the hot cross buns. Slice the hot cross buns in half, then butter both cut sides of the buns. Layer the bottom halves of the buns on the base of your greased ovenproof dish, overlapping them or tearing them into smaller pieces if need be, to fit your dish.
- Soak the buns. Pour half of the custard all over the buns (if you’re using chocolate eggs, scatter half of them over the buns at this point), then place the top halves of the buns on top. If you’re using chocolate eggs, scatter the rest of the eggs on top. Pour the rest of the custard mix all over the tops of the buns, and let them soak for at least 15 minutes to help them absorb the custard properly. PRO TIP: As the buns soak, you can press them further into the custard mix, so they have a really good bath.
- Bake the pudding. Transfer the dish to the oven, and bake for 40 – 45 minutes, or until the tops of the buns look golden brown and the custard is set (you should be able to see this at the bottom of the dish). Check the pudding after 30 minutes, and place aluminium foil over the top if the tops of the buns are looking too brown. If the custard is still runny, cover the dish with aluminium foil and pop it back into the oven for another 10 minutes. Serve while warm and gooey.
Notes
INGREDIENT NOTES: I’m using regular whole milk here, but you could use skimmed or semi-skimmed. You could also use your favourite plant-based milk. If you don’t have cream, just use more milk. You can replace caster sugar with regular granulated sugar. Use regular hot cross buns, or chocolate buns (using mini egg chocolate hot cross buns is an excellent idea). And if you have less than 8 buns, that’s totally fine. This will work well even if you only have 4 or 5 buns – just use a smaller dish.
OPTIONAL ADDITION: If you have any leftover Easter chocolate (measure with your heart here!), chop it up and sandwich it in between the sliced buns in the dish for a very delicious, chocolately centre to the pudding.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The pudding will keep well for 3 days, stored in a covered container in the fridge. You can arrange the pudding a day in advance, keeping it covered with aluminium foil in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it. Once baked, you can reheat it in the oven (covered with aluminium foil) for 20 minutes at 350°F (180°C fan).
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: desserts
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: british
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bun
- Calories: 543
- Sugar: 18.2g
- Sodium: 886.4mg
- Fat: 22.8g
- Saturated Fat: 11.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 8g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 71.1g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 15g
- Cholesterol: 110.5mg
SUCH a clever idea!! This was so easy, we’ll be making it again for sure
This hot cross bun bread and butter pudding was absolutely incredible, Such a brilliant way to use up leftover hot cross buns, and the result was so rich, comforting, and full of flavor. The spiced buns added such a lovely warmth, and the custard was perfectly creamy. I served it with a little drizzle of cream, and it was pure heaven. This is definitely going to be a new Easter tradition in my home. Thank you for such a fantastic recipe.