Pain au Raisin

With a bit of forward planning this makes for a speedy morning pastry. The mixture of a good crème patisseries with fat juicy raisins will give anyone a spring in their step. I wouldn’t make anyone make a block of puff pastry themselves so shop bought works just as well here. Pain au raisins are not overly sweet, which is probably why they are perfect fro breakfast, but if you like them sugar sprinkle 100g extra of caster evenly all over the pastry before rolling it up.

The night before baking make the crème pat. Soak the raisins in boiling water overnight also.

Step 1: Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and vanilla in a medium bowl. They should be fairly light in colour.

Step 2: In a medium saucepan heat the milk and vanilla bean paste together until almost boiling.

Step 3: Once the milk is hot enough pour over the egg mixture whisking all the time. Once combined pour back into the saucepan and continue to heat and medium setting, still whisking. The crème pat should begin to thicken up a lot. Once it holds its shape remove from the heat and return to the original bowl.

Step 4: Press a piece of cling film on to the surface of the custard to prevent a skin forming. Allow to cool down completely.

Step 5: Roll out the puff pastry to form a rectangle.

Step 6: Drain the raisins, which should be well puffed up by now.

Step 7: Spread the crème pat all over evenly and sprinkle with the raisins.

Step 8: Begin to roll the pastry fairly tightly starting from one of the short edges. Once fully rolled mark small slights every 2cm and use these as a guideline to cut the pain au raisin. A serrated knife works best.

Step 9:  Arrange on a line baking tray and bake at 180C for around 20 minutes or until fully puffed up and golden brown. Serve immediately with coffee and the morning papers!