Cinnamon bread pudding
Day-old bread soaked in a cinnamon vanilla custard and baked until puffed and golden, a tray of cozy comfort with a sweet glaze on top.
- 95 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 12
- About $0.61 a serving
- 270 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. Whatever’s left keeps for tomorrow.
Ingredients
For 12 servings.
- ¼ cup butter, plus a little for the dish
- 1 French bread, about 12 oz, a day or two old
- 4 large eggs
- 2½ cups milk, divided
- ½ cup raisins (optional)
- 1 cup powdered sugar
From your pantry
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2½ tsp vanilla extract, divided
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
Each serving has about 270 calories, 7 g protein, 44 g carbs and 7 g fat, and costs about $0.61 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
- No milk? Half-and-half works.
- No raisins? Dried cranberries work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 350°F and a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with a little butter.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Grease. Greasing means rubbing a thin layer of butter or oil over the inside of a pan so food doesn’t stick. Get into the corners, where batter likes to cling.
How you’ll know: The pan looks evenly shiny all over, with no dry patches and nothing pooling in the bottom.
Cut the bread into 1-inch , crust and all; you should have about 10 cups.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Dolly’s tip: Slightly stale bread soaks up the custard without falling apart. Fresh bread works too and bakes up softer.Microwave the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl until , about 40 seconds, then in the eggs, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons of the vanilla, the cinnamon and salt.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Timer: 40 sec
in all but 2 tablespoons of the milk until the custard is smooth.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Add the bread and raisins, press them down into the custard, and let it soak for 15 minutes, stirring once.
Timer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Press until every piece is wet. Any dry cubes on top bake into toasty, crisp bits.Pour it into the dish and bake 40 to 50 minutes, until puffed and and a knife slid in near the middle comes out clean.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 40 min
Food safety: Custards, puddings and pie fillings made with eggs are done at 160°F in the middle. Without a thermometer: on the stove, cook until thick and gently bubbling; in the oven, until a knife slid in near the middle comes out clean.
While it bakes, stir the powdered sugar with the last 2 tablespoons of milk and the last ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth.
Let the pudding cool for 10 minutes, the glaze over the top, and serve warm.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop picks a dessert for treat night, puts what you need on the week’s grocery list, and walks you through each step.
