Saturday 23 April 2016

Old Fashioned Apple & Raisin Bread Pudding




Today is a glorious day. Although it's still a little chilly out there, the sun is shining brightly and my internal batteries are getting charged as I sit in this window absorbing those lovely sunbeams. Add a hot cup of my guilty pleasure and some time to work on another blog post, I couldn't ask for a better start to the day!

After sorting and organizing my freezer last week, my mission was to use up my freezer finds and older pantry items. I'm happy to report that my mission is going well. I've tested my creativity and ingenuity for a second week with great success as demonstrated with my family's happy and satisfied tummies. My bank account is happy too!

I turned a little leftover spaghetti sauce into nifty pita pizzas using the meat sauce instead of the traditional pizza sauce. Then I topped them with some chopped zucchini, red peppers, a little grated cheddar and baked till the cheese was bubbly, a yummy invention! 


I made some amazing white bean brownies from a can of white kidney beans I had in my pantry, and as you know from my last post, my husband really enjoyed them, even after he found out about the beans! These will be made again, for sure! 


I also made my Deconstructed Cottage Pie filling with a half pound of ground beef and the mixed veggies from some recently discovered freezer finds. I had all the ingredients for my meals this week pretty much in stock so I only had to pick up a few fresh veggies for the week. Yes, shopping my freezer, fridge and pantry saved me some more cash this week too. I am definitely a happy camper!


You might recall that I found a whole bunch of frozen bread in my freezer last week. I also had some apples and eggs that needed to be used up to as well. At the time of my post, I was thinking bread pudding, which of course, is exactly what our grandmothers and their mothers before them would have made too!

Today, I would like to share that bread pudding recipe with you. This recipe is not the rich, drenched in cream recipe that bread pudding has become in many modern chef repertoires, but a little more like what my great Grannie would have made. Although this recipe was a little more frugal, it was tasty, and even felt a little decadent. In the end, it still satisfied that call for a sweet ending after dinner and made use of on hand ingredients. 

Here is a pic of the odds and ends I had of frozen bread. I usually hang on to the bread to make bread crumbs, but apparently, I haven't been using a lot of bread crumbs lately!


Old Fashioned Apple Raisin Bread Pudding

Cube enough stale bread or your freezer finds. White, whole wheat, multigrain, sprouted or even buns all work well. There should be enough cubed bread to generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. It should be gently heaped. 


Originally, I thought I might have enough cubed bread to make a 9 x 13 and an 8 x 8 pan of bread pudding, but after completing the preparation, I only had enough for a 9 x 13 pan. Sometimes cooking is not an exact science!


In a large bowl, combine the eggs and milk whisking thoroughly. Add the cinnamon, grated nutmeg, both sugars and vanilla (extract or ground beans). 



Add all of the bread and stir to coat all cubes. Stir in melted butter, raisins, and diced apple. The bread will float for awhile but it will eventually soak up the custard and sink. This should take about 15 minutes. 



While the pudding is standing, preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Once the bread has soaked up most of the custard, gently stir the mixture to make sure the apples and raisins are distributed throughout the pudding. Then, scrape everything into a lightly greased 9 x 13 baking dish.

 

Bake for about an hour until the bread pudding is set, slightly puffed, and a golden brown colour. 
 

Remove from the oven and brush lightly with the maple syrup. 



Serve warm!

Old Fashioned Raisin and Apple Bread Pudding 

INGREDIENTS:

Stale bread; enough to generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan when cubed. It should be gently heaped. If you are short stale bread, top up with lightly toasted bread. 

2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 - 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
6 eggs
4 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tbsp vanilla extract or 2 tsp ground vanilla bean
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1 cup raisins
4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped in a 1/2" dice

2 tbsp maple syrup

METHOD:

Cube your bread and generously fill a 9 x 13 inch baking pan so that the bread cubes are gently heaped. 

In a large bowl, combine the eggs and milk whisking thoroughly. Add the cinnamon, grated nutmeg, both sugars and vanilla (extract or ground beans). 

Add all of the bread and stir to coat all cubes. Stir in melted butter, raisins, and diced apple. The bread will float for awhile but it will eventually soak up the custard and sink. This should take about 15 minutes. 

While the pudding is standing, preheat the oven to 350° F. 

Once the bread has soaked up most of the custard, gently stir the mixture to make sure the apples and raisins are distributed throughout the pudding. Then, scrape everything into a lightly greased 9 x 13 inch baking dish. 

Bake for about an hour until the bread pudding is set, slightly puffed, and a golden brown colour. 

Remove from the oven and brush lightly with the maple syrup. 

Serve warm!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave me a comment. I would love to hear what you have to say!