March 2011

Sometime over the long, long, LONG winter I’m not quite done with, I became obsessed with bread pudding.

I don’t know how or when it happened, but it did and there’s no help for it.  So instead of getting up to run on the treadmill at each hotel I stayed at over the course of the last 5 months, I ordered bread pudding from room service everywhere I went.

Makes sense, right?  A girl’s gotta preserve her food stores to last through winter.

I’m happy to report that my food stores fat stores are in healthy order.

AHEM.

So when I came across a bread pudding recipe in Family Fun I knew I needed to take it firmly by the hand and get to know it a little better.  You might want to take notes.

Recipe for Bread Pudding:

• 1 day old baguette or loaf of French Bread
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• whipped cream for serving {I highly recommend not skipping this part}

Step 1:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Cut up the loaf of bread into tiny one inch chunks.  It seriously helps if the bread is at least a day old so it’s easier to cut.  Plus, if it’s a little on the dry side it will better absorb the delicious pudding.

Step 2:

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and layer the bread cubes until the pan is completely filled.  Sprinkle the raisins on top.

I added a few extra because I’m a raisin lover and they get nice and chewy when you cook them.  YUM.

Step 3:

Whip the eggs until thoroughly beaten, and then add vanilla, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of sugar.

Mix all of that until totally combined.

Step 4:

Now add the milk and the cream.

Holy yummy.

Pour the whole mixture over the breadcrumbs and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes so the bread has time to really absorb the yum.

Step 5:

After things have absorbed a little, take a wooden spoon and smush down the bread until it gets at least a little immersed in the milky mixture.

Now sprinkle that extra 2 tablespoons of sugar you’ve been holding onto all over the top.

Step 6:

Place the pan inside another pan in your oven.  Just like a custard you need to sort of boil the bread pudding instead of straight up cooking it.  I don’t have a pan bigger than a 9 x 13 so I used a cookie sheet.

Once everything is in the oven use a tea kettle or water pitcher to fill the cookie sheet with as much water as it can hold.

Now bake the bread pudding for about 45-50 minutes, until it looks like this:

It smells like a really delicious cinnamon french toast.

Add a little dollop of whipped cream on top, and indulge your sinful food lust.

I’m not responsible for anything past this point.

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Just to note for next time, I’d probably at least double the liquid contents of this recipe.  I like my bread pudding super moist and this was a little dry.  Still, with enough whipped cream I managed okay.

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