One of the bread websites that gave a pep talk to those of us who are having all kinds of trouble getting our bread to turn out, said to use the failed bread experiment for bread pudding. I’d never made bread pudding before, in fact I never even tried eating it until I met Tony and he ordered it at a restaurant. I thought I wouldn’t like it and now it’s one of my favorite foods. Since I also run a Bed and Breakfast on the weekend (yeah, more on that later), I decided to make a bread pudding breakfast casserole and it came out great. This recipe is from Vegetarian Times, Elana Richman, and you start it the night before.
Stuffed French Toast Bread Pudding
3 tsp. butter
2 large sliced apples
4 T brown Sugar, divided
6 eggs
1 ⅓ C milk
1 t vanilla extract
¼ t salt
1 baguette, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt 2 tsp. butter in skillet over medium heat. Add apples, and sauté 15 minutes, or until beginning to brown. Add remaining 1 tsp. butter and 1 Tbs. brown sugar, and stir to coat. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 3 Tbs. brown sugar in large bowl. Add baguette cubes to egg mixture, and let stand 5 minutes to allow bread to absorb liquid.
Spread half of bread mixture in prepared baking dish. Top with apples, then spread remaining bread mixture on top. Coat 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray. Bake 45 minutes, or until custard has set. Serve with maple syrup if you want.
