Tony Jackman’s gingered croissant and butter pudding cooked in an air fryer, served on a platter by Mervyn Gers Ceramics. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Foil containers turn out to be a very handy item for an air fryer. Expect a rush on them, and foil loaf tins and the like becoming ubiquitous while also potentially selling out once everyone who owns an air fryer gets wind of this.
A regular foil loaf tin, 13 cm x 25 cm, was perfect for the quantities of this pudding.
You can of course also make it in a conventional oven, in which it would cook for longer.
Ingredients
100 g dried ginger slices (they come in 100 g packets)
⅓ cup hanepoot or other fortified wine
250 ml full cream milk
250 ml cream
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
3 large eggs
½ cup golden brown sugar
4 mini croissants
4 Tbsp golden brown sugar
Butter for spreading on the croissants and dotting
Method
Chop the candied ginger (available at dried fruit outlets such as Wellington or Montagu) and put it in a small saucepan with the hanepoot or other fortified wine. Bring it to a slow simmer and reduce until you have a sticky but slightly runny sauce.
Heat the milk and cream together until just less than boiling point, then turn off the heat.
Beat the eggs and sugar together.
Add the dairy mixture to this a little at a time while stirring. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir on a low heat until the custard thickens.
Stir in the vanilla essence or extract.
Grease a foil loaf tin or metal one with butter.
Cut the croissants in half, butter them generously and place them alongside one another in the greased tin.
Spoon half of the candied ginger and their wine essence over, then put them back together and place them alongside one another in the foil tin.
Pour the remainder of the ginger sauce over.
Pour the custard over evenly.
Dot the top with butter here and there.
Sprinkle golden brown sugar over the top.
Preheat the air fryer to 160℃ for 5 minutes.
Put the tin in the basket and set it to cook at 160℃ for 15 minutes. Check, and if not quite cooked, put it in again for another 5 minutes. It’s self-saucing so doesn’t really need anything else, but you could serve it with vanilla ice cream if you like. DM