Southern Bread Pudding

This is another recipe mom received from her good friend Kim Caldwell. We loved bread pudding! It was a common dessert on a Sunday evening. Later, mom would make a savory variation. She would cut some of the sugar, add sharp cheddar cheese and sausage. We’d eat it with pure maple syrup on Christmas morning!

Ingredients:

• Pudding:

  • 4 cups day-old French bread in cubes

  • 8 Tbsp butter, melted

  • 1.5 cups milk

  • 1.5 cups sugar (less if making savory variation)

  • 3 large eggs, lightly beaten

  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg

  • 1/8 tsp salt

  • cinnamon to taste

• Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 1/4 cup buttermilk

  • 2 Tbsp butter

  • 1 tsp light corn syrup

  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

  • 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. Put bread in dish and set aside. In another bowl, combine all the pudding ingredients. Pour over the bread. At this point, you can fold in cheese and/or sausage if you want to make a more savory bread pudding. Mom would often sprinkle cheese and sausage on top as well in the savory variation. Bake for 30 minutes or so until bubbles around the edges and looks set.

To make the sauce, combine all ingredients except vanilla in a saucepan. Boil over high heat for 3 minutes. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Serve both bread pudding and sauce warm.