Pain perdu with buttery apples

Another busy day, with a craving for something sweet at the end of it... when this happens in my house, pain perdu is usually made. Provided you have the ingredients to hand (and you're likely to), it's a fast, fuss-free pudding that makes me groan with greed. And of course, this month, it was served with apples slices fried in butter.

Serves 2.

Recipe

1. Whisk one egg with 75ml double cream and 1 tablespoon sugar. If you want you can add a dash of alcohol (brandy, rum, whisky...) to the mixture.

2. Dunk four slices of bread into the eggy mixture and leave for 5 minutes. Any white bread can be used for this dish as long as you can readily imagine it in a sweet situation! Brioche is commonly used but I love it with a plain country bread or my raisin-studded breakfast loaf. If you're using a crusty bread then you may need to cut the crusts off first. Softer crusts can be left on and will add to the texture of the dish.

3. If you want to have fried apple slices too, then melt a knob of butter in the frying pan and cook as many peeled slices as you want. Turn them onto the other side once slightly golden, them place them in the oven on lowest heat to keep them warm whilst you fry the bread.

4. Add another knob of butter to the frying pan and cook the bread slices until golden on each side. You may need to add more butter as you go.

5. These are perfect on their own, or with sugar/icing sugar sifted over the top and a dollop of clotted cream or sweeted mascarpone on the side.