Toffee apple bread and butter pudding

Ingredients

350g/12oz Cox's apples
2 lemons, zest and juice
170g/6oz butter
200g/8oz sugar
70g/2½oz raisins
250ml/9fl oz milk
250ml/9fl oz double cream
4 free-range eggs
1 medium brioche loaf
To serve
icing sugar
sprigs of mint (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 3.
2. Peel and core the apples and sprinkle with half of the lemon juice.
3. Heat a large frying pan, add the butter and half of the sugar.
4. Once the sugar has melted and is just starting to caramelise, add the peeled and cored apples and the raisins and remove from the heat.
5. Pour the milk and double cream into a medium pan and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat as soon as the cream mixture is boiling.
6. Add the remaining lemon juice and the lemon zest to the cream mixture.
Beat the eggs with the remaining sugar in a bowl and whisk in the heated milk and cream.
7. Cut the brioche into triangles. Arrange a layer of the brioche in a baking dish. Layer with the toffee apples and more brioche until both have been used up. Pour over the egg and cream mixture.
8. Place the dish inside a slightly larger dish and fill the larger dish with hot water (this is a bain-marie). Bake for about 40 minutes until cooked all the way through.
9. To serve, dust with icing sugar and an optional sprig of mint.