Basic Bread Pudding Recipe
May 6, 2011 11:30 am
Kentucky bourbon caramel sauce tops off dessert
By
Let's face it: Bread pudding is not the most exciting dessert in the world. It often looks like a gloppy mess, and its main ingredient is stale bread. In fact, bread pudding is essentially a conduit for leftover bread; in thrifty (or poor) households throughout the world, and in mindful restaurants, it's a way to use bread whose crust has hardened but whose dough still has a bit of sponginess left, instead of merely throwing it out.
That doesn't mean bread pudding has to suck.
Here, we present a recipe for bread pudding that actually rivals chocolate cake, apple pie, and flan, mainly thanks to the ingredient we use to liven up that stale bread: Good ol' Kentucky bourbon. Mix it up with caramel and cream, and you've got one hell of a sauce. Plus, the bread is treated so that it's almost French toast-like, making for a dessert made from leftovers that might even re-surface as breakfast—though you'll probably polish this off first.
Servings: 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup Kentucky bourbon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 small pinch fleur de sel, optional
Directions:
Bread Pudding:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl combine the beaten eggs, cinnamon and cubed bread. Pour this into an 8- inch baking dish (or 2 quart baking dish).
- Combine the sugar, vanilla, milk, and salt and pour into the baking dish over the bread cubes.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Caramel Sauce:
- In a small saucepan, bring the sugar, water and corn syrup to a boil. Cook until the sugar is dissolved. Use a pastry brush and water to wipe down the intertior sides of the pot where the sugar may be sticking. This will prevent that part from burning.
- Continue cooking, without stirring, until the sugar turns amber in color. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the cream. Let cool for 1 minute, then stir in the bourbon.
- Place the pot back on the heat and bring the mixture to a boil over and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat, add the butter and let the caramel sauce cool slightly. Pour over the bread pudding and serve.
Level of Difficulty:
Easy
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cooking Time:
45 minutes
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