Bread Pudding First Attempt

Morning!! 

Bread pudding has always been yummy but my true love for it bloomed while we were in New Orleans. For our anniversary date we went to the Commanders Palace which in it's own right was magical and had their famous bread pudding for dessert. Every bite was a piece of heaven!

 I found an older cook book for the Palace and decided to try their bread pudding recipe. For an amateur baker I believe it turned out rather well but there were a few little problems. Which is why I say that this is my first attempt! Even though I really don't need more delicious pudding around the house. I have absolutely no control when it comes to desserts...I can not be trusted! he he

Pudding Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar 

8 tablespoons Butter; softened 

5 Egg; beaten 

1 pint Heavy cream 

1 dash Cinnamon 

1 tablespoon Vanilla extract 

¼ cup Raisins 

12 slices French bread, fresh or stale; 1" thick 

Rum Sauce:

1 cup Sugar 

2¼ cup Water 

1 Cinnamon stick; OR 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, ground 

1 tablespoon Butter, sweet 

½ teaspoon Cornstarch 

1 tablespoon Rum, light or dark 

To start I cut up my bread into 12 slices and preheated my oven to 350. 

Then started on the mixture, adding the sugar and butter first then the eggs (beaten), cream, raisins, cinnamon and vanilla.

 In a small pan I added the mixture and placed the bread pieces over the top. I let them soak for 5 mins then flipped them over for another 5 to 10 mins. After the bread has hopefully soaked up a lot of the pudding mixture, push them to the bottom of the pan. 

Place the pan in a larger one with about a few inches of water. Cover the pan with tinfoil and place in the oven.

Cook for 35 mins and then remove the tinfoil and cook for an additional 10 mins.

 I think this might have been where I went wrong, I may have not cooked the pudding long enough. It was still a bit soupy. I tried to cook it for a bit longer and it got a little firmer.

While the dish cooked I made the rum sauce! In a pot I stirred together the sugar, water (2 cups), ground cinnamon and butter, bringing it to a boil. Then added the remaining water and cornstarch, switching to a simmer and stirring. The sauce is supposed to become clear but I couldn't get it that close. Either way it was yummy! Once "clear" I removed the pot from the heat and added the rum.
I spooned out some of the bread pudding into a bowl and added the rum sauce....what resulted after that moment can only be described as pure satisfaction...the look of contentment and joy washed over our faces as we consumed bite after bite. This bread pudding was warm, sweet and hearty. Even though it was not quite Commanders status it was no less scrumptious. I will definitely be giving this a second try!!!

Thanks for readin! -Bunny