May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been
the foresight to know where you’re going
and the insight to know when you’re going too far

^{Traditional Irish Blessing}

Two years ago on St Patrick’s day I posted a recipe for a chocolate tart made with crumbled Maryland cookies and Baileys (in fact, heretically, I suggested that Edradour Cream Liqueur – from Scotland – might be better than Baileys).

What can you substitute for the Irish Cream (aside from Scottish Cream) if you don’t happen to have a bottle lurking? I have just read a very funny Huffington Post article about making your own. Why they even attempt this is a mystery even to them, but they come out firmly with a ‘don’t try this at home’ warning. Not for drinking neat at any rate. But in this pudding you could substitute cream, sugar and whisky in proportions of your own devising. I have even, in extremis, used Southern Comfort with some success.

So today, on St Patrick’s day, this year I’m posting this pudding which also uses Baileys and chocolate chips, both ingredients being less than discreetly present.

You can make both the pudding and its accompanying sauce ahead of time, but they will need reheating.

Recipe for St Patrick’s boozy bread and butter pudding

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 900 ml/3¾ cups double cream
• 240 ml/1 cup Baileys, or equivalent (see above)
• 200g/1 cup golden caster sugar
• 2½ tsp Madagascan vanilla paste
• 2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tsp water in an egg cup
• 1 medium plain white farmhouse loaf
• 200g/7 oz plain chocolate chips
• 200g/7 oz white chocolate chips
• 120 ml/½ cup full fat milk
• 4 large eggs
• butter to grease

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grease an attractive, ceramic baking dish with butter.
3. Cut off the crust from the bread and cut the remaining bread into cubes of about ½”/2 cm and put into the baking dish. (Use the crusts to make croutons).
4. Pour 120ml/½ cup Baileys over the bread.
5. In a large mixing bowl beat the eggs with an electric whisk, and add ½ cup/100g sugar and two teaspoons of vanilla paste.
6. Then whisk in 360 ml/1½ cups of cream and the milk.
7. Scatter both varieties of chocolate chips over the bread and pour over the cream mixture. Set aside while you begin to make the sauce.
8. Pour 420 ml/1¾ cups double cream into a saucepan and add 120ml/½ cup Baileys, 50g/¼ cups sugar and ½ tsp vanilla paste. Bring to the boil and keep stirring.
9. Return to your soaking bread. Pour over it another 120 ml/½ cup of cream, and sprinkle over 4 tbsp/50g of golden caster sugar.
10. Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes – until the centre has set. Keep an eye on it, it may not take that long. It should not get so dry that it pulls away from the sides of the dish. You particularly do not want to overcook if you are going to reheat.
11. Return to the sauce: add the dissolved cornflour, and stir all the time, for a couple of minutes, until it has thickened.
12. Serve the sauce, gently warmed, with the hot pudding.