Inspired by Te Devoro | Djavan

This secret (not for long) recipe of my grand-mother is, as we say it in Brazil, a true “poor’s desert”. Between us it’s a crazy love story and like Djavan – as kitch as he can be – I devour it when it looks at me. Easy to make and quite cheap, it’s a perfect option for Christmas.

| Ingredients |

Pudding

_ 1 can of sweetened condensed milk 

_ whole milk

_ all kinds of stale bread

_ 4 eggs

Caramel

_ 200g sugar

_ ground cinnamon & cloves 

| Method |

Start by blending together the can of sweetened condensed milk and the equivalent of a can of whole milk. Then let the bread soak in that mixture a few minutes so it softens. Add the eggs, the cinnamon (I use a lot!) and the cloves (also up to your taste). Blend it without going crazy as we want to keep some nice bread chunks within the mixture.

Pre-head your oven at 200* (fan on!) and attack the caramel. People say caramel it’s a complicate deal but actually not necessarily specially if we have a thermometer. Basically we are looking to heat it up to 160° so it gets good taste and a homogenous colour. Heat 200g of sugar with 100 ml of water without stirring. Wait patiently but always keep an eye so it doesn’t burn.

When you decided which cake pan you’ll use you can either butter it or simply use a sheet of baking paper (much better in my opinion). Pour the caramel then the blended mixture and cover the whole thing with foil. Put it in the oven at 170° for 45 minutes – 1 hour, perhaps even a bit more. The baking time depends on your oven, the quantity of bread, etc. But on average one hour should be enough to get your pudding ready. To be sure all you need to do it’s the knife test, as for a cake, and see what’s gets on the blade. If if gets out spotless your pudding is ready. If it gets out with bits of mixture on it you need to wait a few minutes and test again.

Once your pudding is cooked, wait before it cools a bit and return it as if it were a tatin pie.

Remove the baking paper, reveal a beautiful caramel and eat away while it’s warm or wait a while to serve it cold. Both are delicious.

♪ Pra esperar, esperar devorar você…