Bread Pudding – 2 Recipes

Between the four of us in our house, you’d think one of us would like the heels of bread. But no one does. Sometimes I can make grilled cheese with them with the crust-sides in and the kids don’t mind, however most of the time we just toss them. One day it seemed to me to be an incredible waste to throw away all that bread, so I started saving the ends of the bread and storing them in the freezer waiting for the perfect recipe to come along. Thankfully, I came across two incredible recipes for bread pudding and was able to turn those heels into something delicious.

The first recipe I tried came from Allrecipes and was simple enough I was excited to give it a try since I’ve never made bread pudding before. It came out amazing!

It reminded me a lot of the overnight French toast my mom makes for Christmas breakfast every year. Kora and Logan were thrilled to help make it as well, but enjoyed eating it more. They asked for it every day until it was gone!

Here’s the recipe I used:

Bread Pudding II

• 6 slices day-old bread
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The only thing I changed was leaving out the raisins.

Not long after making this bread pudding, another was sent to me from Little Simon’s Island and it sounds incredible. I’m thinking of making this recipe this year for the holidays and because of both the similarities and slight differences to the recipe above, I think it will be a big hit.

Little Simon’s Island Gingerbread Pudding

Gingerbread:

2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4  cup whole milk

Custard:

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs

1.  Preheat oven to 325°.  Lightly coat the bottom of a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with canola oil and line with parchment paper.
2.  In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat brown sugar, molasses, eggs, and canola oil on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3.  Combine flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a separate bowl.
4.  Add flour mixture to egg mixture.  Stir with a spoon to combine.
5.  Add milk and mix until all ingredients are moistened.  Pour batter over paper in prepared pan.
6.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7.  In a medium saucepan, combine milk, sugar, and vanilla on medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Cool slightly.
8.  Crack eggs for pudding in a separate bowl and beat with a wire whisk.  Slowly whisk in warm milk mixture.  Strain through a fine mesh strainer if mixture is lumpy.
9.   Remove gingerbread from sheet pan and lift off parchment paper.
10.  Cut into 1/4-inch squares and evenly divide among 12 ramekins.
11.  Pour 1/4 cup custard over gingerbread in each ramekin.  Place ramekins in a large baking dish and add enough hot water to meet the level of the filling in the cups.
12.  Bake for 45 minutes in a 325° oven until custard is set.  Serve warm.

*Gingerbread Pudding Photo and Recipe Courtesy of: Little St. Simons Island

Do you have a favorite Bread Pudding recipe? What do you usually do with the heels of your bread?