Dessert doesn’t have to be an extravagant effort with fancy ingredients. You can transform day-old bread into a family-pleasing treat by adding fruits and nuts you may already have on hand along with a few pantry staples. Dust the top of your finished bread pudding with powdered sugar, and you have the perfect dessert for a cozy dinner at home.
Bring on the bread pudding
Bread pudding
5-6 cups day-old bread (croissants, French or other), torn in medium-sized pieces
1 apple or pear, chopped
½ cup cranberries or raisins
½ cup chopped nuts
½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon cardamom (or cinnamon or nutmeg)
Pinch of salt
4 cups milk (or 2 cups milk and 2 cups cream)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Powdered sugar
Heat oven to 350 F. Butter a baking dish. Add bread to baking dish, and top with apple, cranberries and nuts.
Combine brown sugar, cardamom and salt in one bowl. In another bowl, combine milk, eggs and vanilla, and blend to mix eggs in well. Add the dry mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir to combine. Pour about half to three-fourths of milk mixture over the bread in the baking dish. Let sit for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, pour additional milk mixture over bread, if needed (more for gooier bread pudding, less for crunchier texture). Bake 35–45 minutes, testing for doneness to make sure eggs are fully cooked. Let cool, and dust with powdered sugar.
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