Mary Berry's mincemeat bread and butter pudding

Method

1. Well-butter a 28cm (11in) fairly shallow round china ovenproof dish. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Fan 160ºC/Gas Mark 4.
2. Snip the apricots into smallish pieces and soak in the brandy or rum whilst making the pudding.
3. Make sandwiches of the bread using the mincemeat, but don't fill right to the edges because these are trimmed off. Cut off the crusts and cut each sandwich diagonally into four. Arrange the sandwich triangles across the dish, slightly overlapping.
4. Beat together the caster sugar, eggs, cream and vanilla extract. Stir in the milk.
5. Scatter the apricots over the bread. Gradually pour over the cream mixture, making sure all the bread is coated. If you have time, leave the pudding to stand for 30-60 minutes (to allow the bread to absorb the liquid, so it becomes light and crisp during cooking). If you have no time, don't worry - you can still bake it straightaway.
6. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top of the pudding, and bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes until well-risen, crisp and golden. Serve warm with creme fraiche or cream.

Top tip: It is essential to make this in a shallow dish so that you get maximum crunchy top. It rises like a souffle, so serve it at once straight from the oven. Mary Berry's Christmas Collection is available from Amazon, RRP £16.99. Win Mary Berry cook books