Kneaders Raspberry Bread Pudding

Well I suppose that one last post for the year should be something rich and sweet and divine, since we all know that when January hits there will be tasteless, calorie-less meals being served indefinitely until all of the holiday poundage has been beaten back into submission. For those of you who were able to control your holiday splurging I applaud you and apologize for the greens and white meat that you will be seeing in the near future coming out of this kitchen but I did not exercise anything close to self-control and in fact, did not even exercise because of all of the snow and ice! So until further notice, we will only be looking at pictures of decadent delights while sucking on sugarless mints and sipping lemon water and trying to detox! Oh why does food have to taste so good anyway?

I saw this recipe demonstrated by someone from Kneaders bakery on Good Things Utah back in the day when I enjoyed watching the "girls" but since I no longer enjoy the show I don't even know if they have cooking demos and such anymore. Nevertheless, I knew this was good since I have made it once in the past, but I also knew that it could be slightly improved upon, so that is what I did. I used the recipe found on the blog, Chef-in-training and tweaked a few things and will say that it was definitely rich and delicious and worth every calorie. And since all tasty things will be eliminated from this house on January 2nd, I had a big bowl of this for breakfast this morning since it seemed un-American to dispose of it in the garbage what with all the starving children in the world. (I do what I can.) If anyone else would like to do their part please stop over and help finish off this pan of goodness.

I will post the recipe as written and just note the few changes that I made in parentheses.. Hope you decide to make this sometime for someone you love, their love-handles will thank you.

The Ingredients

Cream Mix:

• 1 1/2 loaves aged, white bread (I used big french bread loaves)
• 1 qt. heavy cream ( 2 c. cream and 2 c. milk)
• 3 C. sugar
• 1 egg (3 eggs)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Fruit Filling:

• 5 C. frozen raspberries
• 1 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. apple juice (I used orange juice and 1 tsp.orange zest)

Vanilla Sauce:

• 1 1/3 C. butter ( 1 cup)
• 5 Tbs. flour ( 4 TBSP.)
• 3 C. heavy cream (2 c. cream and 1 c. milk)
• 2-3 tsp. vanilla (2 tsp.)
• 1/3 C. sugar (1/2 cup) (1 more tsp. orange zest)

          

The Instructions

In large bowl combine cream, sugar, egg and vanilla. Cut bread into 1 1/2" cubes and add to cream mixture, coating bread well. Let stand 30 minutes stirring every 5 minutes to allow cream to absorb completely. 

 

For fruit filling: Combine raspberries, sugar and apple juice, stirring until sugar is dissolved. (For the fruit filling I drained all of the liquid from the defrosted raspberries and the 1/2 cup orange juice into a saucepan. I stirred 2 tablespoons cornstarch into the sugar and added it to the juice mixture. Cooked it over medium heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Added the raspberries and orange zest and set it aside to cool while the bread cubes were soaking.) 

 

Layer a 9x13 dark baking dish (sprayed with Pam) 3/4 full with bread mixture, pour fruit filling over bread mixture, spreading evenly, top with remaining bread. Bake 40 minutes at 375 degrees. Serve warm. (I covered the bread pudding with foil and placed it into a larger pan which had a dish towel on the bottom of the pan. Poured hot water into the larger pan about half way up the sides, around the bread pudding pan, and baked it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes and then removed the foil from the top of the bread pudding and baked it for about 15 more minutes. Because I added the extra eggs I felt like it needed to be baked a little longer than the recommended time and at a lower temperature. You can use your own judgment on the whole water bath business but everything I have ever seen about bread puddings suggest this method of baking so that the result is a creamy not grainy texture so I wasn't about to risk it just because some blogger didn't bother! I am sure it would still be delicious if you want to follow the original baking instructions, but I would still think that with the additional 2 eggs that it will take closer to an hour to bake.)

 

For vanilla sauce: Over medium heat, melt butter, and add flour. Stir 10 minutes until it has a nutty aroma; do not brown. Add cream and sugar and boil till mixture is thick. Remove from heat, adding vanilla. (I got bored after 5 minutes of stirring so I just stirred in the cream/milk/sugar and stirred the boiling mixture for about 5 more minutes, then stirred in the vanilla and orange zest.) Let cool slightly and serve over warm bread pudding.