Bread pudding has always been one of my favorite desserts. Probably because it reminds me of younger days when there wasn’t a lot or extra money and our gramma would make it as a treat for us.
Bread pudding, was the first desssert I ever groaned about in absolute disgust and decided that I wasnt’ going to even try it because it just “SOUNDED” like something I wasn’t going to like.
Needless to say I did try it, and as a child, bread pudding became one of my absolute favorite treats. Not only did we decide we liked it, we begged for it. The creamy sauce that mom or gramma made to put over the top of the old fashioned bread pudding was thick and rich, like an extra creamy vanilla pudding and the bread pudding itself was crispy on top, with a light coating of cinnamon, and crunchy sugar that was to die for.
My love of great creme brulee I think is because it reminds me of this particular dessert.
Although I still use the same bread pudding recipe, I changed grammas topping in the interest of speed and taste.
Rather than home made pudding combined with whipping cream, we now use instant Jello Brand pudding and combine it with cool whip for a taste that is lighter and a more light and lower fat recipe, without sacrificing a single bit of taste.
Ingredients
4 cups milk,
3 cups day old bread, cubed
5 large eggs,
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
For topping
1 and 1/2 cup milk
jello instant vanilla pudding
8 ounces of Cool Whip
350 and grease a deep bowl of about one and one half quarts, or a 13×9 inch baking pan
Heat four cups of the milk in a saucepan til it begins to form bubbles
combine the warm milk with the eggs and stir in all but three teaspoons of the granulated sugar and the salt.
Stir in butter and vanilla
pour into the pan
drop in bread cubes and using a spoon push them under the milk mixture
soak them about 5 minutes until they are still floating but swelling from the milk
combine the remaining sugar with the cinnamon
sprinkle over the top of the bread cubes
bake about 45 minutes or until set.
mix instant pudding as directed
combine instant pudding with cool whip and stir well til you have a light fluffy topping.
