I love bread pudding but don’t have or make it often because, I don’t really like eating bread. So I have been saving up my left over bread in the freezer for almost a year always looking at my frozen bread pile checking to see if it has grown enough to make bread pudding. I finally decided I wasn’t going to wait anymore and was going to make some bread pudding. So, I looked up recipes until I found one that was doable, sort of, with what I had. I had rum from a trip to Cuba so used that instead of bourbon. I didn’t have raisins but did have dried cranberries. For “heavy” cream, I used 35% whipping cream. In the end I made a nice bread pudding with rum sauce.
While looking at different bread pudding recipes and even while making this modified recipe, I realized that a variations, additions, substitutions can be made to the basic recipe. This “basic recipe” for bread pudding seems to be bread, milk, sugar and eggs. What you add to it, is entirely up to you and your taste. Below is a list of additions to the basic bread pudding recipe:
- Dried fruits: pineapple, raisins, cranberries, papaya, apricot, dates
- Fun ingredients: chocolate chips, marshmallows, crushed candies
- Nuts: coconut, walnuts, pecans, almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts
- Chopped fruit: apples, pears (note: not too much, or very large chunks otherwise I suspect it’ll turn out more moist than a bread pudding)
- Spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, allspice, pumpkin spice, chai spice
Bread pudding
Notes
- Use a 8 inch square pan.
- Rum sauce and caramel sauce recipes can be found below.
- Bourbon can also be used. Try any alcohol of your choice and see how it turns out.
Ingredients
- 8 c bread, chopped
- 1/2 c dried cranberries
- 2 tbsp rum (bourbon)
- 4 eggs
- 2 c milk
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 c sugar + 2 tbsp
Instructions
- Mix cranberries and 2 tbsp of rum in a bowl and let stand for 30 minutes
- Drain mixture keeping the liquid on reserve.
- Preheat oven to 350C.
- Grease a baking dish.
- In a bowl mix together milk, eggs, 1 tsp cinnamon, nutmeg, 1/2 c sugar and reserved rum.
- Stir in the cranberries.
- Fold in the bread cubes.
- Pour mixture into the greased pan.
- In a small bowl, mix together 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon.
- Sprinkle sugar-cinnamon mixture on top of the bread pudding.
- Bake 30-40 minutes util puffed and golden brown.
- Serve with caramel sauce or rum sauce.
This list above of additions is by no means exhaustive, especially the fun ingredients. As for a side accompaniment to the bread pudding itself, simple is best, a whipped cream or vanilla ice cream that doesn’t take away from the taste of the bread pudding. However, a nice rich sauce can also be a nice accent. Below there are two sauce recipes. One for a caramel sauce and another for a rum sauce. Other sauces that may be a nice compliments are,
- chocolate sauce, butterscotch sauce, apple caramel sauce, blueberry sauce, raspberry sauce, lemon curd, cherry compote, fruit jams, bourbon sauce, whisky sauce
Below are the two sauce recipes, rum and caramel. However, this is not the limit of the sauces you can add to the bread pudding. You don’t even have to use sauce.
Rum sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 c butter (unsalted)
- 1/2 c sugar
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tbsp rum
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- In saucepan, over medium-low heat, stir butter, heavy cream, sugar, salt and rum.
- Simmer until thickened, whisking often. About 5 minutes.
- Cool slightly.
- Pour over bread pudding and serve.
Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 c butter (unsalted)
- 1/2 c heavy cream
- 1/2 c brown sugar
Instructions
- In saucepan, over medium-low heat, stir butter, heavy cream and brown sugar together.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes.
- Pour over bread pudding and serve.
References
Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipes, Dec 2019, Flossie’s Kitchen, URL: https://www.flossiekitchen.com/old-fashioned-bread-pudding-recipe/
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