Bread Pudding

As a Methodist minister, I move around somewhat frequently, per direction of our Bishop. So, one outpost my husband and I were sent to happened to be in one of the most beautiful places on God's green earth, Greenville Junction, Maine.  What a lovely place in which to minister! My husband and I loved living there and being in ministry there.

Greenville Junction, Maine is where I encountered my first experience with bread pudding. Honest-to-the-Apostle-Pete, I had never baked a bread pudding before this. A parishioner, Linda Carpenter (thankyou, Linda!) gave me her recipe for bread pudding, and I've been in love with this old-fashioned dessert ever since. It doesn't hurt that my husband is quite fond of bread pudding, so he was happy to oblige by eating it!

I like this particular recipe for the surprise fruit. I'd never tried a bread pudding recipe with anything but raisins until now. The apple compliments the raisins beautifully. This is a wonderfully egg-y recipe, and fits in an 8x8 pan, so I don't have to do any reducing of the recipe from a 9x13, which is what I typically find this recipe to require for baking. I pulled it out of the oven precisely at the 30 minute time frame, and it looked a wee bit dry on top, so I poured some light cream over it all, and slipped it back in the oven for a little bit, to soften the top. It absorbed nicely, but you do need to watch it, so it doesn't dry again. I love the way the sprinkled raisins look on top, and the sweet bite of the apple layered inside the bread triangles. I also think the triangles are kinda fun! It makes for a pretty presentation of the dessert to table before dishing out.

The recipe suggests serving hot with French vanilla ice cream. Yum, yes!

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