Princess Diana's Favorite Dessert Has A Boozy Twist You'll Want To Try

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Princess Diana's mealtime preferences are more than a little intriguing, from the princess' favorite stuffed pepper dinner to her favorite tea, which has a delightful floral twist. Her most loved holiday dessert is one worth adding to your to-bake list if you like a splash of liquor in your treats. The inside knowledge of her guilty pleasure comes from former royal chef Darren McGrady, who wrote the book "Eating Royally," where he outlines some of the most favored dishes of the British royal family. One of the recipes listed is Princess Di's favorite dessert — a bread and butter pudding flavored with amaretto-soaked raisins. These little morsels of sweetness offer not only a delightful chew, but also elevate the dessert with the warm, almond-rich taste of the liqueur. 

Bread and butter pudding, once referred to as poor man's pudding, is a base of bread soaked in butter and baked in custard in a casserole dish until the exterior is lightly golden and the center is set but still nice and moist. Unlike the version found in the United States, called bread pudding, you won't tear up the bread for this British classic. Instead, you'll remove the crusts from the bread and cut it into triangles, layering these on top of each other. (That means the best type of bread for this bread pudding is a loaf you can properly cut to this shape, rather than something like a Hawaiian roll.) The dessert is rich, sugary, and undeniably an ideal comfort food that looks and tastes like lots of effort went into the preparation — because it has.

The pudding works best when you take your time; that means soaking the raisins overnight at room temperature in amaretto. If you are pushed for time (or fell asleep before you had a chance to get this winning ingredient together), you can soak them for at least one hour to reap some of the benefits of the rich flavor. If you want to lather on the boozy element, you can add a drizzle of whiskey sauce to the dessert. This will add a touch of creaminess, extra sweetness, and a slight smokiness from the whiskey to truly enhance the pudding's flavors.

Bread and butter pudding is already a dessert that packs a punch from the first bite, since the recipe calls for perfectly sweet vanilla bean paste and heavy cream for decadence. Other spices to incorporate include a sprinkling of nutmeg or cinnamon for more warmth. You could tuck into this pudding with a side of whipped cream or fresh berries, or make like Princess Diana and keep it simple with some sprinkled flaked almonds (bonus if they're toasted), which complement the amaretto almond liqueur. If that's not sweet enough for you, add a dusting of powdered sugar for the final touch — you'll be eating like royalty.