Have A Little Bread Pudding With Your Kahlua?

COOKING ADVENTURE #24: Bread Pudding with Kahlua Sauce

And there we have it folks. I’ve managed to do a Cooking Adventure where I didn’t mess up at all! Surely, you’re holding your head in your hands saying, “Quoi? No mistakes! How is it possible?!” Believe me, folks, having never made bread pudding in my entire life, I was assured that I’d either cut off a finger or use the wrong measurement or the wrong ingredient somewhere along the way. No. I did it all according to the directions and got a pretty magnificent response from it as well when I shared this delectable dessert with my co-workers. Some said it was, and I quote, “the best bread pudding [they’ve] ever had.” And you’re really going to love this: I baked it before going to work… in roughly an hours time. Boom.

This bread pudding recipe is a fusion of two spectacular people’s ideas. The first is from Simply Recipes, where they have a recipe for an amazing bread pudding. From there, I found the special Kahlua sauce twist on this site, The Ravenous Couple, who had used the first recipe and tweaked the sauce to fit their taste. I must say that I happen to whole-heartedly agree that Kahlua is the perfect ingredient for a sauce. And I’m pretty sure that most of the college-aged students working at the store this summer agree with me that it was what pretty much made the recipe so spectacular.

The first thing that you do is take a French bread loaf that’s a day old and cut it into one inch cubes. I did this with my superbly wonderful Pampered Chef bread knife which sliced through the bread easily. Of course, I could have used a larger cutting board but the only one larger than the one I was using was the one that takes up half of the counter. Forgive me if I didn’t want to wash that thing. After cutting the bread, you take a large bowl and pour a quart of milk into it. Yes. A quart. I had just bought a quart for normal cereal/coffee/whatever else consumption. I was sad to have to pour the entire thing into the bowl but I knew it was for a good cause. Then, you place all of the bread cubes into the bowl and allow them to soak for a few minutes. I ended up stirring them around in order to make sure they were all getting the same amount of soaking time.

Around this time, I pulled out another bowl and cracked three eggs into it. After giving them a good whisk to mix them up a little, I poured in two cups of sugar, 2 tbsp. vanilla, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. The only thing I didn’t add from the original recipe was the raisins. That is because I hate raisins. Not really sure why either. Perhaps it’s the idea that they were once grapes and they’ve now shriveled up into little wrinkled husks in the sun. Doesn’t sound too appetizing now, does it? Yeah. That’s what I thought… Moving on.

After that was all mixed together, I then poured the egg mixture into the bread and milk. I stirred everything around so that the bread was evenly coated. Next, comes the baking dish. The recipe actually calls for a 13×9 dish… which I just happen to own! I was so excited that I actually had the correct size for the recipe! I pulled out my massive stoneware baking dish and banged it down on the counter. I say “banged” but I really just put it there. No matter how you set it down, it always sounds like you’re dropping it. Then, I took a 3 tbsp of butter, microwaved it for thirty seconds, and dropped it into the baking dish. I lifted the dish and moved it all around so that the butter coated the bottom and sides. I’m not sure it was really necessary to do this for a stoneware pan but I did it anyway.

Then, in went the bread/milk/egg kagatha. After evening it out and making sure the bread wasn’t lumped in any particular place, I put the dish in the oven at 350 for 4o minutes. I then proceeded to get ready for work. When the timer was up and the bread pudding came out, it smelled divine. I had to leave it in the extinguished oven because I had to go to work and two, I was afraid that my lemon-eyed demon of a cat would get into it.

The next morning before work, I concocted the exquisite Kahlua sauce for it. In a saucepan, I mixed together a melted stick of butter, a cup of sugar, and an egg on low heat. After a short while, they began to form this thick goo which smelled better than it looked. It’s at this stage that I added the Kahlua. However, I didn’t add the entire cup that the recipe asked for. I only put in probably half a cup. And that was plenty. If I had put in the entire cup, the staff at the store would have been hiccuping in drunken delight over the bread pudding.

The Kahlua turned the sauce a beautiful caramel color and thickened up into a smooth sauce. After I’d cut the bread pudding and placed it in two separate dishes (one for work, one for home) I drizzled the sauce over it. This was a magical moment, one that goes down in the Cooking Adventures history of the most pleasant cooking experiences. I had some sauce left over so I poured it into a jar and saved it in the fridge.

I couldn’t resist trying out my desert with a little spoonful of butter pecan ice cream. (In the morning, right? I know. Breakfast of champions.) If I could have, I’d have probably just eaten the entire bread pudding myself, right then. It was really good! I took it to work and it was all gone by the end of the day! I was so ecstatic to find a recipe that I could make that multiple people enjoyed. I’ll definitely be making this recipe again. And I may play with the sauce recipe a little. I wonder what other types of liquor one could use…? Bailey’s, perhaps?

Next week, on Cooking Adventures, I’ll be attempting (and most likely failing) at a recipe that my friend, Celena (from The Evil Cthulhu Cookie) gave me to try. An unorthadox Fettuccine Alfredo recipe is next week. Stay tuned!

~KSilva

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