Black Raspberry bread Pudding

 Remember those black raspberries that took up my whole day last week and gave me such fits in a tart recipe?  Well, this recipe finally came through for me.  This is the bomb. I don't think I have had bread pudding since my dear grandmother made it when I was little.  It's a recipe that has fallen off the radar and isn't made much anymore. Grandma's bread pudding always featured raisins and cinnamon. It was made mostly in the cold days of winter and eaten warm, and it was good!

I'm sorry grandma, this is better.

Fresh fruit sprinkled in between the layers of sweet, smooth, custardy bread. No spices but that means the vanilla custard and berries really shine. This is best eaten warm.

I have made it twice, once with the black raspberries and once with some fat, fresh blueberries. Delicious both times, and I am sure that whatever berry you prefer would be equally delicious.

I took this to church last week for our adult Sunday School class to sample and got raves and requests for the recipe:>)

 

Berry Bread Pudding

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups fresh berries (if using frozen, thaw and drain so they are as dry as possible)

12-14 slices white bread (don't use fresh, use bakery or home made, I used 2 loaves of Italian bread and sliced them myself)

6 eggs

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Trim crust from bread. If you are using Italian bread and have to slice it yourself, try to slice it as thinly as a regular bread slice or you will need more custard to cover the thick slices! Arrange half of the bread slices in the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle berries on top of the first layer of bread, top with remaining bread slices making sure the berries are covered. In a large bowl with a beater attachment, beat eggs until light, beat in sugar and salt, add in milk and vanilla. Pour the mixture over the bread. The bread should be completely covered, if it isn't you can add a bit more milk to cover. Or do what I would do and make another 1/3 recipe of the custard to pour over (see below).  Bake for 50-55 minutes. The top of the pudding should be lightly brown and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream:>)

 

Since bread thicknesses vary, if you cut your slices very thick or for some reason the custard recipe doesn't cover the bread just whip up a little more custard.  1/3 of the recipe should be enough for any variances in bread. The following are the proportions I would use:

 

2 eggs

1/3 cup of sugar

a pinch of salt

1 cup milk

1/3 tsp vanilla

 

You probably wont need it, but just in case....:>)

 

We have a pretty fun weekend ahead, Our usual Saturday morning coffee date at Panera, a fun art fair to look at and then some work on the house. We will probably fit some grilling and relaxing in the garden in there somewhere too. What do you have planned?

 

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