6cupsdried bread; cut into ½" cubes, cubed; (one long skinny French baguette or 3 7-inch hoagie rolls or 1/2 a loaf of Italian bread)
1tablespoonbutter, to coat baking dish
1cuphalf-n-half
1½cupsmilk, whole (you can use 2%)
4wholelarge eggs
2cupsgranulated sugar
1cupraisins (optional)
1tablespoonvanilla extract
1tablespoonground nutmeg
1½teaspoonsground cinnamon
Bourbon Sauce Ingredients
1stick butter
1cupsugar
1wholeegg
3tablespoonsbourbon, whiskey or rum (See recipe notes)
Instructions
Cut bread into cubes (you need about 6 cups of cubed bread total)
6 cups dried bread; cut into ½" cubes
In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, half n half, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, vanilla, cinnamon and raisins
1 cup half-n-half, 1½ cups milk, 4 whole large eggs, 2 cups granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg, 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 cup raisins (optional)
Pour mixture over bread; coat well; allow to rest for 1 hour (stir occasionally)
Preheat oven to 350ºF
Lightly butter an 8 x 8" baking pan and place it in a 9 x 13" pan; add water to the 9 x 13" until it the pan is half full
1 tablespoon butter
Pour soaked bread and milk mixture into 8 x 8" greased pan; if you want to add raisins, mix them in now. (See recipe notes about raisins)
Place both pans in oven on the middle rack, uncovered; bake 45-60 minutes on 350ºF until center is set (test with knife)
While the bread pudding is baking make the sauce; melt one stick of butter in a double boiler on low heat; remove from heat; set aside
1 stick butter
In a bowl, combine sugar and egg
1 cup sugar, 1 whole egg
Gradually add sugar/egg combination to melted butter (off heat), stirring constantly; return pan back to low heat; continue stirring; as sugar begins to dissolve, you can turn the heat up a little; when sugar is dissolved, remove pan from heat and set aside; allow to cool a little before the next step
Stir in whiskey; plate bread pudding and drizzle warm sauce over it
3 tablespoons bourbon, whiskey or rum (See recipe notes)
Notes
Serving/Portions:This recipe makes a full 8 x 8" (2 quart) pan of bread pudding; the number of servings depends upon the size spoon you use. I used a standard serving spoon (not a teaspoon) and got anywhere from 12 - 16 servings. Pan Size:
If you're making this for a big group, I recommend you double the recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13" pan.
If you use a 9 X 13" pan, you're going to need a bigger pan to put the water in...get one of those aluminum pans at the grocery store, but be careful when removing it from the oven--take the 9 x 13" pan out first; then the aluminum pan with hot water
Bread:You'll need 6 cups of cubed bread. This is equivalent to:
3-7"inch hoagies
1 skinny French baguette
1/2 loaf of Italian bread
Make the cubes small--bite size-about 1/2"inch Milk/Cream:This recipe calls for milk (whole) and half-n-half. If you only have 2% milk, use that. If you don't have half-n-half, use heavy cream in the same proportion as the half-n-half.Raisins:If you want to add raisins, mix them into the bread mixture when you pour it into the baking dish. If you don't want raisins, omit them.Bourbon Sauce:
Use a double-boiler to make the sauce
Allow the butter to cool slightly off-heat before adding the sugar/egg mixture, otherwise, the eggs will cook
Add the sugar/egg mixture in increments, not all at once--stirring constantly
Once all the sugar/egg mixture is combined, return the saucepan to the stove on low heat; stir, stir, stir...you'll begin to see the sugar dissolve
Once you see the mixture becoming less grainy, you can turn the heat up a little
After mixture is relatively smooth and not too grainy, remove from heat; allow to cool about 10-minutes before adding the whiskey
Don't want liquor in sauce? No problem! If you don't want liquor in your sauce, just omit it and make a Vanilla sauce by substituting the bourbon for a teaspoon of vanilla extract.
3-tablespoons of whiskey bourbon or dark rum
You can eliminate the booze in the sauce if you like