#12 Return to the oven until the top is nicely browned, 15-25 minutes.

Think of this as breakfast for dessert.  When I first heard the words ‘bread’ and ‘pudding’ slapped together and offered as a dessert, well, let’s just say I was skeptical.  But after several exploratory samples, I realized that bread pudding is like the best French toast ever.  With whipped cream and booze.  Hello!!!  The picture above is from a pear, tart cherry, and pecan episode I dished out over the holidays.

This is a great and easy recipe that I’ve used over and over.  Get a nice solid enriched bread, like a brioche, challah, or even egg diner rolls.  They will soak up the liquid really well.  Variations on this theme are only as limited as your time, energy, creativity, and pocketbook dictate.  So, feel free to play.

Here’s the master recipe which yields two 10″x6″ bread loaf pans, or two 9″ round pans.  They freeze well if you let them cool and wrap tightly with plastic wrap, so don’t worry about making two at a time.

• 2 pounds of bread (1″ cubes)
• 1 quart cream
• 5 (or 6) eggs
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. salt
• misc. flavorful ingredients (nuts, fruit, chocolate, etc.) about 2 – 2 1/2 cups total.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Follow the pictures below for the rest, and enjoy!

Once you take these guys from the oven, let them cool.  Then, get them out of the pan to cool further on a wire rack or something that will let them breathe.  Once they are pretty much room temperature, refrigerate, or wrap and freeze for future use.  If you have a little caramel sauce, and some whipped cream, you better quality assure a piece while your standing there.  Better safe than sorry.

Treat yourself to a little slice of nice -

-Scott