Raspberry Bread Pudding

When the days grow shorter and the evenings dark sooner, comfort food calls my name more often. The last few days the call was for some reason for bread pudding. I like mine served both warm and cold, so I made enough so that Sweetie and I could enjoy it warm one evening and then again another day served cold. The star of the pudding was the fresh, zesty raspberries. They were a great counterpoint to the mild and milky flavors from the bread, milk, eggs and almond extract. Some lemon zest added another layer of flavor. It's a great way to use up stale bread, too.

My usual way to make bread pudding is with raisins and lemon zest and some vanilla as the flavorings, but I have made it with other enhancements and I've made it savory, too. It really is a versatile treat. You can bake it in a wide casserole, for more crispy pieces, or in a narrow dish for more soft custardy bites.

This is an easy dish to make and truly worth the minimal time. The recipe is over 50 years old and given by a friend, then updated with the raspberries and switching to almond extract. It might not look like much, but everyone loves this pudding.

Bread Pudding with Raspberries      

A variation on a recipe from 1971, from a Fredricksburg, Maryland friend, Gale 

5 cups dry bread cubes            1/4 teaspoon salt           

3 cups milk, scalded                 1 teaspoon almond extract            

1 tablespoon butter                  1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries                  

4 slightly beaten eggs              1/4 cup golden raisins             

3/4 cup sugar                         

½ teaspoon lemon zest                                 

                       

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, and almond extract.

3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.

4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir raspberries and raisins into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.

5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Apples and Raisins Liven Bread Pudding

I love a good bread pudding. There is something comforting about the combination of sweet custard and old bread, cooked so the custard infuses and surrounds the bread with creamy delight while the top browns to a nice crisp crunchy crustiness. My traditional recipe marries the custard with lemon and adds a bit of fruit to the mix with raisins. The recipe was given to me in ancient days (1971) by a friend who used dark cherries as the fruit of choice. She said her bread pudding was always the first thing to go at church suppers.

Since it is wonderful autumn and since apples are seasonal right now, I decided to use up some stale French bread by making Apple Raisin Cinnamon Bread Pudding, based on that old recipe. I kept the lemon zest in the custard mixture and I think that made it even better. A good dose of Penzey's cinnamon and a grating of fresh nutmeg kept the fall theme going. I used Golden Delicious apples, which keep their shape and are mellow in flavor. I didn't peel them, but you could if you prefer. For milk I used whole milk because I had enough, but I often use nonfat evaporated milk and it is delicious and a bit healthier.

Sweetie served us extra large portions for dessert and then I had a much smaller portion for lunch today.  I think it may have been even better than last night. Of course that may have been because I had just finished painting the new laundry room wall with the drywall primer, so I was eating over an hour later than usual.

If you try this without the lemon could you let me know how you like it that way? Do try this. It is easy, delicious, and a great way to pretend that you are a thrifty French housewife, using up the stale bread. Bon apetit!

Bread Pudding with Apples and Raisins and Cinnamon      

A recipe from 1971, from a Fredricksburg, Maryland friend, Gale 

4 cups dry bread cubes          1/4 teaspoon salt           

3 cups milk, scalded               1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 tablespoon butter                1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 slightly beaten eggs            1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup sugar                         1 cup fresh apple, cut into small chunks (peel or not - I didn't)

½ teaspoon lemon zest          1/4 cup raisins                        

                       

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla.

3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.

4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir apples and raisins into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.

5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Transitions

We have reached the time of transition between winter and spring, and not a day too soon. When we first moved here spring was generally something that started up in February and really got going in March with the apple blossoms finishing things up in early April.

The last four or five years it seems like the rainy season last longer and the warming up takes place much closer to the timetable I remember as a child on the East Coast. The fruit trees still seem to follow the old schedule, so we have finished seeing the almond blossoms in February, plums in March and we are now seeing the pear, quince and apple blossoms.

Everything else, like the tulips and other bulbs have been much slower so they are just now hitting their peak. As you might have guessed from my gushing on about the garden and growing things, my attention has turned to those topics, too. Now that it isn't raining everyday I've been able to do some weeding, some soil preparation, and a bit of pruning.

Indoors I've gotten the seedlings going with hopes to plant them out in mid-April.

Food is still making its way to the table of course, but being creative in the kitchen has taken a back seat to other pursuits.

I did make up some festive 'brownies-in-a-jar" for a fundraiser which was fun. If you want to do the same...perhaps for and adult's Easter basket or for a hostess gift? the URL for how to make the jar of ingredients and also the recipe for baking up the brownies is HERE. There are lots of variations, too. Love mint and chocolate? Just add some chopped up peppermint patties instead of all or part of the chocolate chips. That's just an example...lots more are at the referenced post.

The other recent creative flight of fancy was taking my favorite bread pudding recipe and making a rum-raisin and bannana version. Here is where the transition part comes in because bread pudding is a cosy, winter type of dish and the additions are also easily found in winter most places...but the flavors speak of palm trees and balmy breezes and wicked drinks with paper parasols, the sort of place that almost shouts 'spring break'. This is not the most photogenic of dishes but you get a moist pudding soaked bread, soft and mellow bannanas, raisins spiked with rum, some walnuts for crunch, and nicly browned bready crust on top, too.

Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Raisins

Variation on a recipe from 1971, from a Fredicksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup raisins
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sliced ripe, peeled bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Place the rum and raisins in a microwave safe dish. Cook in the microwave 1 minute at high power. Set aside until cool.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/sugar/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir banana slices, rum/raisin mixture and chopped walnuts into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

A Significant Birthday Event

I have been accused of being (rightly) a bit of a nut about birthdays. I love birthdays and celebrating that people I care about were born at just the right time to be part of the current flow of history.

Some birthdays are even more special than others. When you are young even turning from three to four is a very big deal. Eighteen and twenty-one mean you are legal in one way or another, perhaps even an adult. At thirty some begin making a big deal each time we hit a round number birthday. Hey, not everyone want to celebrate birthdays the way I do, so once a decade is enough.

For my blogging buddy Peabody, 37 is the magic year. To find out why, visit her post at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody HERE.

I don't know about you, but I find Peabody's blog to be a source of inspiration, always a good read, and, if I am honest, a place where I can 'enjoy' some outrageous desserts without adding a pound to my hips. Her photos make you want to lick the screen...again no calories involved. She has been providing all of this fun, to say nothing of her infamous Snickerdoodle Muffins, for many years. Don't you think she deserves a birthday party??

If you are a fan of hers and want to join in the fun, you are hearby invited to Peabody's 37th Birthday Celebration. I'll bring the drinks and some music and decorations. You bring some dessert.

I'm going to start off the madness with a dessert I created just for her (although no one will mind if you have to try it yourself to see what all the fuss is about) for this blowout birthday.

WANT TO JOIN THE CELEBRATION?
Between now and JUNE 29th (Monday) make and blog about one of the recipes on Peabody's blog and/or create a fabulous dessert for her and blog about it.
Then, by JUNE 29th (Monday) send me an e-mail at: plachman at sonic dot net with your name, your blog's name, the URL of the post and a photo no bigger than 200 pixels wide. I'll gather them up and post a round-up birthday party in time for her birthday on July 2nd.

This is not a surprise party & you may want to head over to her blog and wish her a happy day in her comments section, but you'll miss a hellava party if you don't join the celebration and make something special just for Peabody. Here is mine for inspiration - a warm, gooey bread pudding with cinnamon rolls as the base, rich custard for comfort and lots of chocolate and caramel sauce because Peabody really seems to like chocolate and caramel sauce.

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding for Peabody

4 cups cubed cinnamon buns – each bun cut into 4 – 8 pieces, depending on the size of the bun – about 1 inch cubes are what we are aiming for
I used this recipe: http://feedingmyenthusiasms.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-times-with-polly-and-some-nuts.html a whole wheat sourdough cinnamon roll with nuts, but store bought or your own recipe is great, too.
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chocolate chips or chunked dark chocolate (optional)
1/3 cup caramel sauce (optional) (I used Smuckers sauce for ice cream)
hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, scald the milk, then melt the butter in the milk. Let cool slightly.

Lightly beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, then add about ¼ cup of the milk mixture and stir to temper the egg-milk combination. Add another ¼ cup and stir, then stir the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture. Stir in the brown sugar, salt and vanilla. Set aside.

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the milk egg mixture over and stir gently. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir again to get the less soaked bread cubes get into the soaking liquid. Let sit 5 minutes, add the chocolate if using, then stir once more. Let sit five minutes.

Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the mixture. I like to use a wide and relatively shallow baking dish so there is more of the crispy bread bits, but if you like the custardy part better, use a more narrow and deep dish.

Pour the pudding mixture into the buttered dish and push down slightly on the cubes to settle everything. Sprinkle with some more chocolate if you like.

Bake by placing the baking dish in a roasting pan and pouring hot water about half way up the side of the baking dish.

Bake for about 1 hour until the top is crusty and the interior custard is cooked to baked custard consistency.

Serve warm with a drizzle of caramel sauce if desired.

Happy Birthday Peabody!

When we were sitting at lunch in Seattle in June, Peabody, of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, mentioned that she loves bread pudding. When I was trying to think of what to make for her birthday, I remembered that I had this great recipe from the stone ages…well 1971 actually, but close enough. My friend Gale was active in her church and they did a lot of pot lucks. She said that this was her favorite thing to bring and when she didn’t bring it, she got grief.

What makes this bread pudding a stand out is the dark red cherries. A can is about 14 or 15 oz., but you can substitute about a cup to 1 ¼ cup of fresh, pitted cherries if you want to. I used some drained cherries from a jar that I bought when I went to Hatam’s with Anna of Anna’s Cool Finds. I suspect that a cup or so of any stone fruit or even berries in season would work well with this bread pudding. Peabody, hope that you find this to be a fun birthday gift…just wish you were here to have some.

Gale’s Bread Pudding with Cherries
A recipe from 1971, from a Fredicksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 can dark red cherries, drained

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the sugar, lemon zest, salt, and vanilla.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir drained cherries into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Happy Birthday Peabody
bread pudding
cherries
pot lucks