Bread and Butter Pudding

Direct quote, on trying; "Oh sweet jesus, this is freaking delicious".

I assure you, it is delicious.

I wasn't expecting much from this.  It's an idea I had last night, based on a recipe my grandmother used to make.  I was in a snacky kind of mood, so I made some.  It's quick, easy, and scrummy.  Doesn't look like much, but it's pure, delicious, yummy, comfort food, I swear to god.  Also handy for using up stale bread, which, I believe, was one of its original purposes.

The oats are something I haven't heard of before, but they worked really well.  The ones on top went all soft and nice, while the ones in the middle gave the whole thing a nice crunch.

Ingredients

3 Slices of Bread - I used Warburton's wholemeal.
1 Tablespoon Vegan Margarine (I used vitalite - about 10g).
30g Raisins
1/4 Cup Porridge Oats
180ml (Unsweetened) Soy Milk (3/4 Cup) - I think rice milk would work even better, but we didn't have any.
1 Tablespoon Cornflour
3 Tablespoons Maple Syrup (I used Clarks.  You could easily replace this with a bit of sugar and vanilla essence, or leave the sugar out entirely if you use rice milk)
Spices - I used all spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.

1. Butter the bread, and place one layer (ie, one and a half slices) in a small baking dish, butter (v. marge) side up.  Sprinkle over all the raisins and half the oats.  Top with the rest of the bread, butter side down, and scatter the rest of the oats on top.
2. Make the custard - place the milk in a saucepan and spice.  Add the maple syrup/vanilla, and thicken with the cornflour.  I admit, I never actually got the hang of thickening custard, and mine came out a bit watery.  Add spices to taste, and pour over the bread.
3. Bake at gas mark 4 for twenty minutes.

This recipe serves six, although these portions are kind of small (but filling!).  Six portions should come out at under 150 calories, while four will still be under 200.  I can't be exact, since I've tweaked the portions from what I actually made - mainly, less milk, 'cause mine overflowed a bit.  You don't want that, burnt milk in the bottom of an oven smells absolutely disgusting.

The oats make it slightly more proteiny than fatty, but it's still mostly sugar.  Mostly fruit sugar, especially if you swap out the soy milk + maple syrup for rice milk with vanilla essence. So you probably shouldn't eat this with a large coke, is what I'm saying.

I wanted to include a banana, sliced in the middle of the layers, but I ate the last one earlier.  You could also add some flaked almonds, or some berries, or any kind of fruit you like.  Raisins are traditional, in my family, but I think raspberries or blueberries would add an interesting tartness.