This Old Fashioned Recipe For Bread Pudding Will Warm (and Sweeten) You Up
Warm bread pudding on a cold winters night is oh so cozy! Forget about the cold desserts or even those room temperature cookies. This snowy season calls for a dessert that warms the soul.
If you’ve ever had bread pudding, you’ll know it’s a magical combination of bread soaked in a rich custard and then baked to perfection. If you’ve never had bread pudding, well then you’re in for a treat.
What is Bread Pudding, Exactly?
Bread pudding is a dessert made in many countries in many different ways. It’s versatile, and can be made with accompaniments such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruits, and numerous sauces. My recipe is simple and served with creamy vanilla ice cream.
Normally the recipe calls for stale or leftover bread. I can only imagine that it was created to avoid wasting bread that was past it’s prime. Prior to our culture of wasting food to a nauseating degree, our great-grandmothers were known to stretch a chicken and a loaf of bread for a week. You gotta have mad respect for the “waste not, want not” mentality.
I had bread pudding for the first time during my college stint at an Italian Restaurant named Joey’s in downtown Milwaukee. Like many Italian restaurants, Joey’s would serve loaves of Italian bread before dinner. I assume the unused bread went straight to the dessert chef to create what became the most delicious dessert on the menu. Smart!
Making Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is easy to make, but you need to allow some time for baking and cooling. It can be enjoyed straight out of the oven or cooled from the refrigerator (although I promise you, warmed-up is way better). I have also heard of a lot of people eating it as a breakfast dish, and I bet it is incredible with maple syrup and berries.
amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit0”; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “thehouseandhi-20”; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”; amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”; amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”; amzn_assoc_region = “US”; amzn_assoc_linkid = “e25508bfce89fb8850f1863f4abf7e26”; amzn_assoc_design = “in_content”; amzn_assoc_asins = “B019HU4S7E,B00VRVG1HC”; //z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=USMy bread pudding recipe can be used with any type of bread, stale or not. However, I this time I am using Brioche. Brioche is a French pastry bread that is soft and rich, and has a higher egg content. It can be found just about anywhere now, even at Wal-Mart.
Last, and the most important part of this story is the fact that this is typically a dessert my husband makes. YESSSSSS. There’s nothing better than husbands making desserts. Now that is an idea we can all warm up to!
Don’t forget to pin this recipe! If you like this, you might also like our Chocolate Chip Toffee Dessert Bars.
Bread Pudding
- 1 stick butter
- 1 lb loaf of Brioche bread (Or any leftover French or Italian Bread)
- 5 eggs
- 1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
- 4 cups half & half
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
- vanilla ice cream
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9×16 glass baking dish
Cut Brioche bread into 1 inch cubes.
Toss bread cubes with melted butter, cinnamon, and 1/4 sugar.
Toast bread in oven for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Set aside.
Whisk together eggs, half & half, maple syrup, vanilla and salt.
Toss bread with egg mixture, and then pour into baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup sugar on top of pudding and bread mixture.
Bake for 1 1/4 hours, or until the center is set. Cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream
thehouseandhive.com 