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:
- 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
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. If desired, sprinkle with raisins.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.
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?
I made this for my family and we absolutely loved it! It was so good. Just the right amount of sweeteness!!
My Mom used to make Bread Pudding a lot. Going to try this recipe.
Oh my….. I ♥ Bread Pudding, but I never make it. I will have to give the recipe a try!
I have always wanted to try Bread Pudding, but never have. Your recipes sound great – thanks for sharing!
Bread Pudding has been a favorite of our family for generations! We just celebrated Mothers’s Day with a pudding made from fresh-baked cinnamon bread. Delicious!
Sounds delicious! Thank you for the recipe
That recipe sounds so good- I like the simplicity of bread pudding & love it warm the best :)
Thanks for the recipes. Bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts. My 3 kids love to help me make it too.
I like bread pidding, the gingerbread pudding is one i have not heard of before, it sounds very good
ljsin2win-at-gmail-dot-com
Both of these sound so good and I love that you can use that bread that is usually wasted!
Bread pudding is my FAVORITE dessert. Great recipes – I’ll try one next weekend!
Thanks for the recipe! I’ll definitely have to try this.
i’m from louisiana and bread pudding is not bread pudding unless you make a whiskey sauce to go on top. the alcohol cooks off so its still kid friendly. and the bread has to be french bread to make it authentic!
I HAD NO IDEA BREAD PUDDING WAS THAT EASY TO MAKE
Ooh, the gingerbread sounds great! I have never made bread pudding. But I might have to try!
That bread pudding looked delish! The gingerbread pudding sounds good too! At our house we use a cookie cutter to shape the heel of bread then thinly coat with peanut beutter and birdseed and let it dry overnight and hang it up for the birds to eat! Maybe I should start saving them for bread pudding for us and less sharing with the birds! LOL
I make a Blueberry Bread Pudding – good for a meal or dessert.
We typically throw the ends away or hide them inside a sandwich.