Bread Pudding

One of my favorite desserts is Bread pudding. There is nothing like this comfort food. It seemed like one of those dishes that would be difficult to make but it is really easy. My son had Thanksgiving Dinner at school and was so excited to go that he talked about it from the time I picked him up at school until the party began. He is such a party and people person it is so funny to me that it is so obvious and he is just 4 years old(I could have told you this at 2 though)So as I was trying to entertain him between events I told him that I was going to make bread pudding for the feast (It was so cute I could so tell that they had talked a lot about Thanksgiving at school because he told me all about it in pretty good detail.) He got very excited and went into the refrigerator and pulled out the chocolate pudding cups. It was so hard not to laugh, so I tried to explain that this was a different kind of pudding and I really needed help pulling apart the bead to make the pieces. He was game as long as he got to eat some. He did a very good job asking me if every piece that he made was just the right size. After he did about 10 pieces he said "Mommy I am hungry can I just eat the rest that I have in my hand". So off he went to eat his big hunk of french bread. Seriously I am going to have to make a note on my recipe that I need to always by two loaves of french bread for this recipe because between him and I, we NEED a half of a loaf to make it through the making part.
So back to baking... a few pointers that I have found to making the bread pudding just right is making sure that you fill a larger pan with water and then set your pan inside it. It is amazing how better it turns out. The first time I made bread pudding I didn't do this and the top burned before the bottom and inside was done cooking. Below is a combination of two recipes because I really liked the actual bread pudding on one better but the sauce better on the other.



Bread Pudding

6 Cups of dry french bread, crumbled
2 apples, chopped (I omitted this this time but have used this in the past)
1 cup raisins
2 cups milk
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 egg
2 egg whites
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla

Heat oven to 350ºF.

Mix Milk and eggs together, making sure that egg yolks are scrambled. then add brown sugar, cinnamon, until well blended. Stir in bread cubes and raisins. Pour into ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole or square baking dish, 8x8x2 inches. Place casserole in rectangular pan, 13x9x2 inches; pour boiling water into rectangular pan until 1 inch deep.
Bake uncovered 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge of casserole comes out clean.
Make Whiskey Sauce. Serve sauce over warm bread pudding. Refrigerate any remaining dessert.

Whiskey Sauce

1 tablespoon bourbon or 1 teaspoon brandy extract
1 cup fat-free caramel sauce
Cook over low heat and then pour over warm bread pudding.

Enjoy,
Sunny!