I’d like to introduce Denise Romeo of We Like to Cook. The Romeos, Denise and her hub Dom, live in Atlanta and share great recipes, cooking methods and local places to eat tasty food. You might remember that my son and his family live in Atlanta so I have a soft spot for Southerners.
There’s nothing boring about We Like To Cook’s recipe index. Here you’ll find recipe wonders like Hot Deviled Turnovers, Rustic Apple Tart, Frothy Backyard Batidas or Minted Eggplant Insalata. I want to make all of these and more. You can visit Denise on her blog, on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest. Here’s her guest post:
We are honored to be guest posting on Maureen’s blog. We have always found the food blogging community to be a very friendly and supportive group. One of the biggest advantages of blogging is getting to know other foodies in the process. Maureen is one of the foodies we have met along the way.
We aren’t sure what it is about bread pudding that makes it such a revered comfort food; maybe it’s the added warmth of the oven on a cool day or the soft scent of vanilla and cinnamon. Maybe it is the nostalgia; the yearning for a simpler time when dessert was a simple finish to a humble home-cooked meal; a dish made with modest, unpretentious ingredients.
Like bread pudding, there are several types of casseroles based on the technique of soaking leftover bread in broth, milk or custard and then baking until the inside layers are soft and creamy. While the lines between these dishes can be blurry, the main difference lies in the kind of soaking liquid that is used.
A panade is a soupy casserole made with chicken or vegetable broth resulting in a savory dish similar in consistency to spoon bread. Panade is sometimes compared to stuffing in which the quantity of liquid is reduced to equal the volume of bread and other ingredients. Whereas a strata is made by layering bread slices and adding eggs and milk (usually more eggs than milk) giving them a consistency and flavor akin to quiche.
Bread Pudding is also made with eggs, milk or cream, and bread, but has a denser, softer custard with a milkier flavor (due to a more equal ratio of eggs and milk). Bread puddings can be sweet or savory.
- 6 cups very stale plain white bread cubes
- 5 large eggs
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted 3 cups milk
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans, dry roasted (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Cut the bread into one-inch cubes and arrange on a cookie sheet.
- Place the bread cubes in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, tossing and rotating midway through toasting. Remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the custard mixture.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs on high speed with an electric mixer until extremely frothy, about 3 minutes (or with a metal whisk for about 6 minutes).
- Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and butter and beat on high until well blended and the sugar is mostly dissolved.
- Beat in the milk, and then stir in the raisins (and pecans if using).
- Place the toasted bread cubes in a greased baking dish or loaf pans and pour the egg mixture over them and toss until the bread is soaked.
- Press the cubes down into the liquid and let sit for about 15 minutes to allow cubes to fully absorb the liquid.
- Place in the preheated 350° oven and immediately lower the temperature to 300°F and bake 40 minutes.
- Increase oven temperature to 425°F and bake until pudding is well browned and puffy, about 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Dust with cinnamon sugar and let stand for 15 minutes or so before serving.
My thanks to Denise for cooking this soft, creamy dessert that I can’t wait to put in my mouth. Please stop by her place and let her know you met her here? Her newest post, Lemon Glazed Memorialized has just been posted.
Maureen, I love your guest posts, you always invite such an interesting people. Thank you!
Denise and Dom, nice to meet you! I am heading over to your blog to see more of your cooking… 🙂
What a deliciously golden bread pudding!
It is a great comfort dessert, which I remember fondly from my childhood but haven’t had for years.
Denise and Dom it is wonderful to meet you, thank you Maureen for hosting such talent and deliciousness 🙂
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Hello Denise, nice to meet you! Your bread pudding looks so good and I can imagine how delicious it is when they come out of the oven! This is a very nice comfort food!
If is has cinnamon, sugar and bread then it’s a winner to me. It sounds like one giant baked cinnamon toast. Thanks for visiting Maureen today Denise!
What an incredibly delicious bread pudding, M! 🙂
It’s a pleasure to meet you Denise. Thank you for the information about the different types of puddings. I’ve only made bread pudding once and you’ve convinced me that its time again.
Early Sunday morning here. Wish I had some of this for breakfast like right NOW! Great recipe and so easy. I give this recipe 5 Y UMS!
Delicious bread pudding! They have it here around the holidays so its kind of a seasonal treat in Cayman 😉
Great guest post, Maureen! Thanks for introducing me to a new yummy site!
That looks very comforting!
Nice to meet you Dennis Romeo! =D
The bread pudding looks super comfortable. We tend to have it more in the monsoon when its raining buckets outside. Especially my mother in law has made it a family dish this rainy season. Cant wait to try your version. =)
Why bread pudding in the rainy season? 🙂
Such a beautifully comforting dessert!!!! Love it. Great guest post Maureen 🙂 Great to know you Denise, I would definitely love to read more of you.
Hi Minnie, I hope you’ll visit Denise and tell her you met her here 🙂
I adore bread and butter pudding and this one looks to be a delicious recipe! 😀 Love the cinnamon sugar top too-reminds me of streusel 🙂
I thought the same thing about the top. I wonder how a real streusel would be on top? 🙂
I love the sheer simplicity and comforting side of this pudding!
I can’t wait to make it. I’m thinking maybe I’ll add a bit of white chocolate to the custard. 🙂
It;s a very ingenious dessert and I think quite doable in my kitchen :). Congrats to your friend Denise.
Denise is clever!
I have not yet tried making bread pudding. It’s time to change that! Thanks for sharing a great post!
oh yeah, creamy, sweet and delicious 🙂
I have never had, or made bread pudding. And I’m wondering why?? Denise your pudding sounds delicious. Maureen, thanks for the intro!
I love bread pudding. It’s such a wonderfully British dessert and so economical to make. And it’s great in winter as it’s so warming xx
Love everything about bread pudding, okay well not crazy for raisins but I still eat them. I also love how it’s easy to make and feeds a hungry crowd. Nice to meet Denise and her Hubs Dom and going to go check out the blog now 🙂
this looks like one GREAT bread pudding! A perfect dessert during the colder weather.
The bread pudding looks comforting and so very tempting!
Thank you for introducing another great blogger to us.
Ahhh…this recipe is perfect for the cold weather we’re having here in Canada. There’s something about bread puddings that say “homey”, “rustic”, “make-do”, and just so comforting all around! Maybe it reminds me of a time when people didn’t throw out anything because resources were so scarce. Instead, cooks were resourceful enough to use leftovers for something else! Thanks, Denise, for sharing!
Bread Pudding is one of my favorite desserts!I’m a big fan of these comforting desserts and this recipe looks fab!Lovely guest post!
Seriously, who doesn’t like bread pudding? This looks great!
I usually make my bread puddings using panattone which I buy on sale, slice and freeze for just that purpose. A gorgeous caramel sauce would be perfect with this delicious dessert.
Great to meet you Denise and Maureen it’s always great to stop by especially when you feature other bloggers.
Pudding? yes please, i’ll have that with my cup of coffee right now.
xo,
Malou
Oh this looks so delicious!!
I haven’t had bread and butter pudding for ages !
bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts! This one looks amazing and what a great featured article
Beautiful dessert…love the golden color of the crust and yum…crunchy top with creamy pudding.
Thanks for sharing the recipe Maureen and have a great week 🙂
This reminds me of my childhood. Thank you Maureen for introducing us to Denise. Thank you, Denise for sharing such a lovely comforting recipe with us. Very nice to meet you!
I’ve just got to make this.. I haven’t made bread pudding before and I’d like a recipe like this one that looks like it turns out perfectly on the first go. Beautiful!
Nice to meet you Denise. It’s being quite a while since I had bread pudding, the is just the recipe to remedy the situation, thanks Maureen for introducing Denise, hopping over to check her blog.
You just can’t ever go wrong with bread pudding! It’s one of my favorite desserts.
Great meeting Denise! And whoa – that bread pudding looks fabulous!
bread pudding is perfect comfort food – looks soooo delicious!
I always enjoy meeting new food bloggers. Will be sure to go over and say hi:-)
Enjoyed the lesson about bread in food – strats, puddings, etc… and cute pic of your pal in food!
🙂
Love bread puddings!
V
So nice to meet you Denise! This bread pudding looks like something I would never grow tired of – such classic, delicious flavors!
Hi Maureen, what a lovely site you have here, I was just moseying around looking at all the interesting items you have going on. This is so cool and I can’t believe that I have never been here before, this is wonderful and I am going to subscribe after this comment. I’ve never made bread pudding before but this sounds delicious. How nice to meet you also Denise. Thanks so much Maureen for stopping by and giving me the chance to visit here, wonderful lady. Have a lovely evening.
I swear to the bread pudding gods mine comes out awful! I gave up awhile back and sneak tasting at Whole Foods samplings! 🙂 That second photo. OMG. I would love it with tea right about now.
Hi Denise, so glad to meet you! The bread pudding looks divine! Perfect for the coming feasts!
Delicious guest post as usual, Maureen. Thanks for introducing another great blogger 🙂
She’s lovely isn’t she and that bread pudding looks great. I’m definitely making that over the holidays.
Does anyone not like bread pudding . I could eat that whole tray. Love the cinnamon top and loved meeting you. The blogging community certainly is an interesting place and I loved meeting all of you sunny Queenslanders recently x
Maureen, it’s a delight to read your guest posts, not only for the informative “intro’s” you write, but also for the in-depth musings (or in this case, a bread pudding education!) from your guests. Denise, thanks for expounding on the merits of each and for a beautiful bread pudding. Love the cinnamon-sugar dusting idea!
Mmm bread pudding – love being able to use up old bread crusts and make a delicious dessert at the same time!