Ingredients:

• 6 slices of stale bread from the last loaf gifted to you *

• 3 tablespoons of butter **

• 4 beaten eggs **(see note below)

• 2 cups of heavy cream from the fattest cow on the Yoldirch farm

• 1 teaspoon of gold fairy dust (blue or green will substitute but it’s not as enticing)

• 3/4 cup syrup from your sweetest tree

• 1 teaspoon crystal clear water from the Otherworld

• 1 tablespoon ground bark from the oak tree door that leads to the Neverwere

  Notes:

  * If you haven’t been gifted bread lately, visit the baker and see why that is. Does he not appreciate the meat you bring him for his pies? I’m sure he does and he will re-think the delay in baking you something that will help replenish his stock.

  ** If you haven’t any butter, visit your neighbor down the way. She always has some she’s willing to share. She’s so quick to give you whatever you need. She gets squeamish when you stand in her doorway so if you linger just a moment longer, she’ll probably get you a fresh egg or two as well.

Method:

Prepare the fire in your hearth and stoke the flames so they’re nice and hot. It must be open flame, no ovens used here or it won’t have the desired result. Make sure you have the window open; it’s imperative that you only make Fairy Ring Bread Pudding on nights when the wind is blowing opposite your abode. It won’t work if the wind is blustering into your window, creating a chill. This bread needs to be warm and welcoming or it won’t attract the company you seek.

Tear the slices of bread into cubes while thinking of the many guests you will welcome to your door.

Line the cubes along the bottom of your dish, be sure to ask each one for its name.

Cover the bread with melted butter while singing the forgotten hymn to soothe your expected guests into a respite of forgotten space.

Check the window and the wind. Your guests are on their way and they need to see your light to know which door to come knocking at.

Save the ground oak bark for last. Mix the other ingredients in a large bowl, stirring counter-clockwise (clockwise will make it curdle.)

Chant while you stir: “what’s yours is mine for all time, given to me willfully. None can take what’s captured fairly in my fairy ring” until the ingredients are smooth and blended together.

Sprinkle the oak bark on top and fold it in gently clockwise (counter-clockwise will undo what you’ve done; we can’t have that, they’re nearly here.)

Pour the mixture over the bread and butter and place over the fire’s heat.

Your guests should be arriving, prepare their seats.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Offer wine and a place for the travelers to rest their feet. Ask their names and collect them all in the empty dish you hand them.

Once the last traveler has arrived, close the window and bring the fire down. Your pudding is ready to serve. Scoop into each empty dish held by welcoming hands. Say their name as you serve them, then their soul is yours after their first bite. If anyone protests, they will be delivered to the baker in the morning.