Wednesday, March 6, 2019

New Orleans-Style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

I am often amused at the things that inspire me. I am currently involved in the sad task of clearing out the house that my mother and dad shared for over 30 years. As you can imagine, it is quite a challenge. It’s not just 30 years of memories, but a lifetime of memories, as many of them had been moved from their previous home. On the plus side, I have uncovered some real treasures. My mother, though not the dish-collecting enthusiast that I am, did manage to hold her own. I will end up with some beautiful sets of dishes.

While cleaning out the hutch in the breakfast nook I came upon a darling little wavy-edged, yellow, square Italian baking dish. I thought it was as cute as a button, and the first thing I that I wanted to make in it was bread pudding. Don’t ask me why, it’s small, and only makes servings for four, but it was so darned cute, that I couldn’t resist.

The result was excellent! I was put onto this recipe by fellow blogger Alycia Nichols from
Tablescapes at Table 21. I’m sure a lot of you know her. She had made rice pudding (that still sounds good to me) and sent me her recipe for rice pudding, and the whiskey sauce that she used to top it. The whiskey sauce was a part of this bigger recipe. I tinkered with it a little bit to make it more flavorful, and it really is delicious. Add more whiskey if you like, it’s cold and flu season, you’re probably doing yourself a favor in the long run.
New Orleans-Style Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce
 Adapted from One Dish Kitchen

5 cups cubed challah bread
1 tablespoon butter
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
1/4 cup whiskey
1/2 cup brown sugar
teaspoon vanilla extract
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

WHISKEY SAUCE

1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup whiskey
½ teaspoon whiskey flavoring
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease an 8 x 6 - inch baking dish with the tablespoon of butter; set aside.

Place the cubes of bread in a large bowl; set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, whiskey, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over the bread and gently stir to combine. Allow the mixture to stand at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Transfer the bread mixture to the baking dish and bake until the center of the bread pudding is set, 45 to 50 minutes.

While the bread pudding is baking, make the whiskey sauce.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, and sugar. Place the cornstarch, whiskey, and whiskey flavoring into a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth.

Pour the whiskey mixture into the cream mixture and bring to a boil. Once the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Remove the sauce from the heat, add the salt, and stir in the butter.

After the bread pudding has finished baking, remove from the oven and pour Whiskey Sauce over the top; serve warm.

Makes 2 massive appetite servings or 4 regular ones.

If you like your bread pudding with a bit of chocolate added, then you will love Sunset 44 Bistro's Bread Pudding.



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4 comments:

Rustown Mom said...

Both of those bread puddings sound wonderful! Extra bourbon for me...

Alycia Nichols said...

NEVER in my life have I EVER heard of whiskey FLAVORING!!!!!!!!!! Rum extract, yes. But WHISKEY!!?!!!!? Learned something new today!!! I’d drink GOOD whiskey 🥃 straight out of the bottle if I didn’t have good breeding!!! I’m so glad I didn’t give up desserts for Lent because I now have a renewed interest in making bread pudding. I have a good recipe, but I’m going to try yours. Switch hitter, I am!!! Thanks for the shout out!!! And hey...again, so sorry about your Dad. I can only imagine how daunting the task of clearing out the home must be.🤭☹️

kitty@ Kitty's Kozy Kitchen said...

Oh my goodness, I LOVE bread pudding!! It's like pure comfort food to me, Pattie. The square, yellow dish, that belonged to your beloved mom, is darling.
I know what it's like to go through all those treasures. My sister and I did that and found so many wonderful things,including love letters, old cards, and special mementos. Bless you, Pattie.

Linda said...

Oh Pattie, bread pudding is one of my great loves, and I haven't made it in years! This one is just the right portion, not one of those big honkin' ones made in a 9x13 dish, so it is going on my "must make" list!
Love that little dish. My heart aches for you going through your folks' things, but I'm glad there are treasures to be found. I tried simply going through old family photos before we moved 3 years ago, and I finally had to put them away. My Dad died in 1982 and my Mom in 2010, and even after all this time it is hard to do.