Butterscotch Bread Pudding
No one is eating bread anymore! What is this?
Okay, I cannot blame them; so many years ago, because of the boom in wheat production, flour and anything made with flour was pushed into our diets and as per the Canadian Food Guide, we had to have umpteenth portions a day to be healthy. We all know today that this is not the case, for a while it was water, so most drank water as if they were fish then soy came into the mix, oh…seeds…I do enjoy my seeds, but let’s remember folks, we are not birds, nor fishes, nor cows…so all in moderation! Sheesh.
Back to bread, I still love my bread, I still make bread and yum for French toast for Sunday Brunch. Because we might not be eating as much bread, we have bread leftovers. It’s easy to throw out, in my case, give to my wonderful hens, but I do like a good bread pudding with maple syrup and ice cream. The secret is finding a recipe that does not leave a wettish bread pudding.
I was in a mood, found myself looking at one of my mother’s oldest and perhaps most trusted cookbooks and this one caught my eye: Ladies’ Home Journal Cook Book. I started to leaf through it, remembering the days when as a teen, I would use it myself for some of the recipes before other more modern cookbooks started appearing in the kitchen library. I was awed by the book itself; understand that I love books, I lose myself in them, a book says more than the words on the pages, it also denotes history, culture and trends. A book might also reflect on its owner or owners. This book was well used, it reminds me that my mother loved to cook, more than that, she also loved to host parties.
So many memories flood back in that instant, but I am on a mission and I come to a recipe called Butterscotch Bread Pudding. Now that sounds like a plan to me.
Butterscotch Bread Pudding
Serves 8 to 10
INGREDIENTS:
6 tbsp. butter
1 c. brown sugar
½ tsp. baking soda
4 c. milk
4 eggs
2 pinches salt
4 c. day old bread cubes
INSTRUCTIONS:
Melt the butter in a small pot; add the sugar and heat until blended. Dissolve the soda in the milk and slowly stir into the sugar mixture. Cool. Beat the eggs slightly. Add the salt and milk mixture into the eggs. Put the bread cubes into a well-greased 3-quart casserole. Pour the custard mixture over the bread cubes. Bake in a 350° F oven for 45 minutes, until done.
Note: Using a larger/wider casserole dish works well, you do not want your bread pudding mixture to be too thick else you might risk a wet undercooked center.
In honor of my mother, I would have served it with 35% cream. However, this time it was a good quality vanilla ice cream, reason being, the bread pudding is warm, the ice cream cold, the contrast was gorgeous and smooth in the mouth.
This bread pudding is awesome in the morning, uuuhm, just walk a few more miles in your day! Lol.
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