Hot Cross Bun Pudding

Preheat the oven to 338°F. 

Place milk, cream, white sugar and halved/scraped vanilla bean in a saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves. Take off the heat and leave until cool to give the vanilla bean time to infuse.  Remove the vanilla bean stir in the eggs.

Grease a 7.9" x 11.8" oven proof dish with butter. Slice the hot cross buns into 5 slices each (like you would slice a loaf of bread) and butter one side of each slice. Arrange in the greased dish, spreading them out slightly, but with the slices still resting on each other. See cooking image below.

Pour over the egg custard mixture, using a knife to lift the slices to make sure the custard has soaked in between the slices.  Dice the butter and dot over the top and sprinkle with raw sugar. 

Bake on top shelf of the oven for 30 minutes. Check in the middle of the pudding to make sure it is ready by looking in between a slice to make sure the egg custard has set.  It should feel spongy when pressed with your finger.

Serve immediately with vanilla ice cream or custard.