9/5/13

A Little Baking Therapy

Hey everyone!  As I've mentioned several times, The Man and I have been following the low-carb eating route for awhile now, so I haven't baked anything in quite some time. It is paying off, we've both lost weight and inches and feel better for it.   But, here's the rub, I love to bake.  I love the whole process of baking, probably more than the actual eating, but I do enjoy that, too!  So, when our ladies' group here in our neighborhood decided to have a "Fall Potluck," I quickly volunteered to bring a dessert.  I knew immediately what I wanted to contribute -- Bread Pudding!  Why?  Because I absolutely love Bread Pudding, plain and simple.  I've had this recipe for a very long time, but have no idea where I got it -- I've been making this recipe since long before I started blogging and thought it was time to share.

It's kind of fun to pretend I'm the Pioneer Woman and do a "step-by-step" picture tutorial.  Notice I said "pretend," because I am definitely not Ree, but here's by version.

I really do like to collect all my ingredients & pre-measure all or most of the ingredients.  The cupboard just above my baking station has spices, all kinds of baking goods & cork on the doors so I can pin my recipe right there.  I forgot to take a pic of that, but I simply open both doors to that cupboard and all things are right at my fingertips.



I cubed the bread earlier this morning so it would have a chance to dry out just a bit.

You don't want to boil the milk, just warm it.

You'll need a large bowl for mixing the reserved milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla & salt.  

Then stir in the warmed milk & butter, stirring until butter melts. 

Stir in bread cubes.

Make sure all the cubes get coated and then let them soak and absorb the milk mixture.

Stir in the raisins, cinnamon, and pecans (if desired).

Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Pour bread mixture into a greased pan.

Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a knife, inserted near center, comes out clean.

While the pudding is baking, you can whip up the Praline sauce.  Oops, I forgot to get the butter & vanilla in the photo, but I didn't forget to put them in the saucepan....lol!

Bring the water to a boil, stir in the brown sugar to dissolve, then add the corn syrup.  Return to boil for about 15-20 seconds.  

Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients.  Stir until well blended.

Ordinarily, I would put the sauce into a small pitcher; but I'll be transporting this dessert, so I poured it into a jar.

It's almost done!

Just enough time to get everything cleaned up!

All done and looking delicious!

I'll just cover with the aluminum foil, and it will be all ready to transport to the potluck.  I will be taking some Cool Whip, but whipped cream or ice cream would be great, too!

Here's the complete recipe.  Hope you enjoy!  Sure hope the ladies at the potluck enjoy it!

Cajun Bread Pudding

4 3/4 c. milk, divided
4 eggs
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1/3 c. butter, softened
11 c. cubed French bread (1” cubes)
1/2 t. cinnamon
2/3 c. raisins
2/3 c. coarsely chopped pecans, optional

Praline Sauce:
1/4 c. water
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. corn syrup
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 t. vanilla
2 T. butter
Dash salt

Heat 4 c. of milk until warm; set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, combine remaining milk, eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla.  Gradually add warmed milk, stirring constantly.  Stir in butter.  Add bread cubes; soak 10 minutes.  Add cinnamon, raisins and/or pecans if desired.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking pan.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45-60 minutes or until knife inserted in center, comes out clean.

Meanwhile, for sauce, bring water to a boil in saucepan.  Add sugar & stir to dissolve.  Add corn syrup. Bring to boil; cook 15-20 seconds.  Remove from heat & add remaining ingredients.  Cut pudding into squares and serve with sauce.  Could also top with whipped cream, cool whip or ice cream.


*Update:  The ladies loved it, and it was a good thing I had taken some copies of the recipe with me!


I love to party with these fine bloggers:

Cheri at It's So Very Cheri for It's So Very Cheri Party
 Cindy at Skip to My Lou for Made By You Monday
Kathy at Creative Home Expressions for Creative Home & Garden Hop
Cindy at Dwellings--The Heart of Your Home for Amaze Me Monday
Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday
 Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays
 Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home
 Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Inspire Me Tuesday
Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow
Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired
Suzy at Worthing Court for Homework Wednesday
Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday
Angela at Hickory Trail for Efforts and Assets
Kelly at Live Laugh Rowe for Live Laugh Linky Party
Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home
Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday
The Feral Turtle at The Feral Turtle for The Aloha Blog Hop
 Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 
Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading
Alison at Mumtopia for Creative Home and Garden Blog Hop
Debbie at Debbie Doos for Pinterest Blitzen'

16 comments:

  1. That sounds delicious, Carol! I have never made bread pudding! I'll have to give this a try! Thanks for the recipe!!!

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  2. It looks delicious. I also love bread pudding. It used to be one of my grandmothers best desserts. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Oh, yum! I am sure it was wonderful. My grandmother used to make it with a brandy sauce, OMG. I know what you mean about wanting to bake; we love to bake but don't do it often, for health reasons. We try to be really mindful of our diet. My husband lost over 100 lbs. ten years ago and has kept it off, and I'm always trying to trim down myself, so we're sparing with the baked goods. One nice thing is that my husband will bring the extra to work with him after we sample a little bit ourselves, and that way we get rid of it easily. :)

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  4. Oh this looks so delicious!! My mom used to make bread pudding when we were little, but she never did the praline sauce. We were missing out! That sauce looks like it adds so much to it. Yum!

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  5. YUUUUMMMMM!!! I love bread pudding!! It's probably a good thing I don't love to bake!

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  6. Your post is making me hungry Carol!!!! I haven't tried making bread pudding before, but would love to try this one for sure!!! I'm kinda the opposite of you, I measure as I go along, but like cleaning up while I work! Funny how we all work our 'kitchen magic' differently!

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  7. You did an amazing job pretending to the PW! :) It looks delicious! My girls love to bake but I'd rather cook anyday. If I had to guess it's because I can get away with being a lot less accurate while cooking than baking! Love your backsplash!

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  8. This looks outstanding, Carol! The praline sauce is a nice twist! Thanks for the recipe. And good luck with the low carb diet...it worked well for me a few years ago. A good dessert is cheesecake and you can even find recipes with even less carbs when making it. Keep up the good work!~ :)

    XO,
    Jane

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  9. This looks delicious! I am pinning this one for dessert!

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  10. This looks delicious! I am pinning this one for dessert!

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  11. Super great recipe!I will have to try this one.:)Looks delicious!

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  12. Hi Again,
    That bread pudding looks awesome and sounds wonderful.........I want some.....can you email any......lol Wouldn't that be nice........

    Funny cause I was just thinking of baking some of my gluten free choc chip oatmeal cookies, cause it is rainy and gloomy and seems like a good thing to do, not cause I
    am in love with baking, it is the cookies I am after...........lol
    They are very healthy cookies and really don't like when we run out.........lol

    You have a great weekend hon,
    Blessings, Nellie

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  13. This is something that I've always wanted to make. And Eat. I'm a dough/bread/tart/cobbler person... I think this fits right in ;-) Pinning!

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  14. Yum, Carol. I actually saw this post the other day and wanted to comment, but I just couldn't at that time due to my "condition" lol. Congrats on the weight/inch loss. I did the carb thing years ago, and lost lots of inches, enought to go down 2 pants sizes, but not that many lbs. Great to see you enjoying yourself in the kitchen. I actually started "stocking" up on baking supplies last week, because I know what fall brings at my house, and I can't wait!

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  15. My husband loves bread pudding and I'm always looking for new recipes to try. Yours looks delicious, Carol, particularly with that praline sauce...can't wait to try it out!

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  16. This looks so warm and yummy! A perfect recipe for fall.

    Have a lovely weekend.

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I truly love to hear from you and try to respond to each and everyone. If you have "no reply blogger," I will respond in my comments section and then visit your blog as soon as I can.

Make this a great day!
Carol

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