Photo by Nhanusek

Bread pudding has got to be the original frugal dessert-I mean come on, taking old stale bread and turning it into a delicious desert that will have folks clamoring for seconds.

Bread Pudding

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup butter
8-10 slices dry bread
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups milk, scalded & cooled

-Soak raisins in water and set aside.
-Cut or tear bread into peices (approx 1 inch cubes)
-Mix brown sugar, cinnamon & allspice. Set aside 3-4 TBS of sugar/spice mixture.
-Toss remaining spice mixture with butter & bread.
-Drain raisins.
-Layer bread mixture, raisins, bread mixture, raisins in a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish.
-Beat eggs, salt, and vanilla together for  1 minute.
-Mix cooled milk into egg mixture and pour over the bread & raisins.
-Sprinkle remaining sugar mixture on top, let stand for 5 minutes and then bake for 45-50 min at 325 F.

Bourbon Sauce

1/2 c sugar
3/4 c water
2 TBS Bourbon
1 TBS cornstarch
2 TBS butter

-Combine sugar, water and butter and warm on medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
-Mix cornstarch & Bourbon until completely dissolved
-Pour cornstarch mixture into sugar/water/butter mixture and heat till thickened.

Variations:

You could just take your chances and mix everything together in a big bowl and pour into a greased baking dish. . .

Soak raisins in apple juice, brandy or whiskey instead of water.

Use any combination of spices that appeals to you-perhaps try adding a 1/2 tsp to tsp of orange or lemon peel.

Skip the raisins, or substitute golden raisins, “craisins”, currants, dried apples, fresh apples etc.

For the sauce, use rum or whiskey instead of bourbon. Or skip the sauce and drizzle some heavy cream or half and half over the top.

Try different types of bread.  Cinnamon bread would be especially delicious-although stronger flavored breads such as pumpernickle or rye might taste odd. . .

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