Long ago, making bread pudding was common in every kitchen. It would only take a few ingredients such as stale and hard bread, milk, eggs, spices, or depending on what was on hand, for one to make a tasty and delicious side dish or dessert.
What probably started the idea was to avoid the waste of stale bread, so instead of throwing away, frugal cooks soaked bread in milk, sugar, butter, fruits and seasonings then bake. Sometimes families would add meat and vegetable to the recipe resulting to meat-based puddings. Modern bread pudding is made with custard, flans, porridges and other ways bearing different flavors. While old-fashioned bread pudding is merrily making a come-back along with today's reborn of traditional foods, either of its sweet or savory versions can be easy to make, and even if you're a beginner, bread pudding dessert is one of the simplest desserts you can start right away. Let's try two modern pudding bread recipes for your Easter brunch.
Fruit Cocktail Bread Pudding
Ingredients
5 cups bread cubes, or torn into pieces
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, not margarine
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
8 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cans fruit cocktail, drained and cut into tidbits
chopped nuts, optional
Whipped cream, optional
Directions
In a mixing bowl, beat together sugar, butter and cinnamon with an electric mixer for 1 minute, or 3 minutes by hand. Add eggs and beat until blended. Fold bread cubes and fruit cocktail tidbits into the creamed mixture then pour into crock pot. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 7 hours or on High for 3 to 4 hours.
You may top with crushed nuts or whipped cream topping if desired. Serve warm or cold.
White Chocolate Bread Pudding
Ingredients
1 loaf bread, cubed or torn into pieces
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups white-chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups toasted pecans, crushed
Directions
Prepare chocolate chips in a large mixing bowl, set aside. In a saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until simmering. Pour hot cream over the chocolate chips, whisking until the chips dissolve. Whisk sugar into the mixture then the milk, eggs, and vanilla to form a custard base.
Add the bread cubes into the bowl, gently mixing to coat bread cubes with the custard base. Set mixture aside to allow the bread to soak for an hour. Toss once in a while so bread is thoroughly soaked into the custard base. For the meantime, heat the oven to 325 degrees, and grease a baking dish.
Toss the pecans into the soaked bread mixture, then pour the mixture into the baking dish. Cover loosely with foil, and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove foil and increase the heat to 400 degrees. Continue baking for 10 minutes longer or until the top of pudding has lightly browned.
You may top your bread pudding with whipped cream. Serve warm or cold.
