Spiced bread pudding with vanilla bean butter sauce

This might be made with leftovers, but it's delicious! Topped with a pecan crumble, it is served with a butter sauce that complements the vanilla and orange flavours in the pudding.

Credit: Mary's Kitchen Crush

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  40 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

I am that person who always buys too much eggnog. So this helps me use up some of the leftovers. It gives my bread pudding a rich, warm, cozy holiday feel.

Ingredients

Pudding

• 1 cup (225 g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (100 g) brown sugar
• 5 eggs
• 1½ cups (355 ml) eggnog (see Note)
• ½ cup (120 ml) milk
• 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla essence
• ½ orange, zested
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp (1g) kosher salt
• 8 cups (300 g) stale bread, cut into 2.5-3 cm (1-1½ inch) cubes (see Note)
• ½ cup (75 g) chopped toasted pecans
• ½ cup (75 g) dried cranberries

Topping

• ¼ cup (50 g) brown sugar
• ¼ cup (35 g) flour
• 2-2½ tbsp (45g) chopped toasted pecans
• ⅛ tsp kosher salt
• 1½ tbsp (30g) unsalted butter, melted

Sauce

• ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter 
• ½ cup (125 g) sugar 
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) 35% cream 
• 1 tsp (5 g) vanilla bean paste
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp (25 ml) orange liqueur 
• ⅛ tsp salt

Soaking time: 20 minutes

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 175C (350F). Butter or spray a 2L casserole dish with cooking spray.
2. For pudding, whisk together sugars, eggs, eggnog, milk, vanilla, zest, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Place bread, pecans and cranberries in casserole dish and pour egg mixture over. Soak for 20 minutes.
3. For topping, combine brown sugar, flour, pecans and salt in a small bowl. Mix in the melted butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over bread mixture and bake until golden and set, about 35 to 45 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, for the sauce, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
5. Add sugar and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Whisk in cream, vanilla bean paste, liqueur and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 7 to 10 minutes.
6. Serve drizzled over bread Pudding.

Note

• Eggnog is seasonally available in Australia at supermarkets. You could use a thin custard or light cream instead, although the flavour will be different. 

• Mary used challah in her version, but you can use any stale bread. You can also dry out bread to make pudding - cut it into cubes and let it sit overnight before making the pudding.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

I am that person who always buys too much eggnog. So this helps me use up some of the leftovers. It gives my bread pudding a rich, warm, cozy holiday feel.