Blueberry croissant bread & butter pudding

I love bread and butter pudding. I usually make it with little marmalade sandwiches and add a good kick of cointreau to a very rich custard, which is utter perfection. Then a friend told me about a croissant and blueberry version she'd enjoyed, and I was so intrigued! At about the same time, I was watching the BBC's Big Allotment Challenge, where Rupert and Dimi claimed that a little coriander seed boosted the flavour of blueberries without being identifiable itself. Could there be something better than perfection? Obviously, I had to find out.

Blueberry Croissant Bread & Butter Pudding (serves many)

8 all-butter croissants
120g sugar
6 eggs
600ml double cream
500ml whole milk
juice and grated or finely minced zest of 1 calamondin (or half a mandarin)
3tbs cointreau
1/2tsp ground coriander
360g fresh blueberries
Sparkle sugar (optional)

Halve the croissants and place in a large casserole dish (I use a pyrex lasagne dish) that fits inside a larger roasting tin. Put a handful of blueberries between the halves of each croissant and scatter the rest around the dish.

Whisk together the sugar, eggs, citrus juice and zest, cointreau and coriander, then add the cream and milk and whisk until smooth. Pour the custard mixture evenly over the croissants.

Leave to soak for at least 1 hour - or it can sit in the fridge overnight if you are making it for brunch. Scatter with a little sparkle sugar (or raw sugar) if using. Cook in a bain marie for 45mins-1 hr at 180C, then leave in oven to cook in residual heat for 1/2 hour. Serve warm or cool.

Well, it was good. The coriander, calamondin and cointreau enhanced the blueberry flavour and balanced the richness of the custard and croissants. It went down extremely well at the barbecue I took it to. But it is better than marmalade-laden perfection? Not quite! Still, useful to have something different on rotation.