Easy Bread Pudding

In my opinion, there is nothing worse than stale sandwich bread. I do not care if store bought or homemade sandwich bread, if it is not fresh I refused to use it for sandwiches. That means IF someone does not close the package, bag, or container properly and I find the bread even slightly stale, no sandwiches! Bread crumbs are a first thought for use however, quantity comes into question there. One can only use so many containers of bread crumbs, am I correct? This is my solution: A quick, traditional tasting, easy bread pudding recipe to use up day old bread.


Easy Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

9 slices day-old bread
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup raisins
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Tear stale bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread. Sprinkle with raisins.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaked up the egg mixture.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

Notes: The original recipe called for 3/4 cup sugar and six slices of bread. After reading the comments, I increased the bread from six to nine slices. In thinking about raisins and the sweetness they deliver, reducing the sugar by 1/4 cup seemed necessary and proved to be true.

This bread pudding is very yummy, not excessively sweet, and oh so comforting! I was delighted with the final texture too. It was firm and a bit brown on top but not crunchy. The ease of preparation, and not having to scald milk formed the “easy” label.

♥