Southern Maryland Meats | Cherry Bread Pudding

Cherry Bread Pudding with Bourbon Whiskey Sauce

Topic and Skill – Proper Ingredient Proportions (Episode #15): This is a very traditional New Orleans dessert. Home cooks are constantly looking for dessert recipes that can feed a group and provide the finishing touch to a great meal. This recipe is the one!

In this video, I use fresh dark cherries that can either be pitted and macerated, or frozen ones from the grocery (cherries freeze amazingly well), fresh or frozen peaches are great too. The trick to recipe is to add just enough milk to soak the bread, but not make the desert soggy. Work it with your hands, adding milk ¼ cup at a time until it starts to puddle in the bottom of the bowl. That is your sign that the bread has absorbed as much milk as it is going to. And then, don’t squash it down when transferring it to a baking dish. Simply pour in a baking pan and spread it out evenly. Don’t press it down. Leave it nice and airy. Guaranteed this will be a family favorite.

For the sauce, if Bourbon is not to your liking, then use some vanilla extract. Melting the butter and stirring in the powdered sugar will leave you with a thick but easily stirred mixture. Then take it off the flame to vigorously stir in the bourbon (or vanilla). The sauce will be pourable, and just drizzle it right from the pot onto the bread pudding just before you serve.

Ingredients

Bread Pudding

1 loaf of white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes, leave crust on (or 6 large croissants cubed)
2 cups sugar
¼ lb unsalted butter, melted
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
milk (about 2 cups, give or take)
1 – 1 ½lb frozen cherries
Cooking spray to grease baking dish

Bourbon Sauce

¼ lb unsalted butter
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
½ cup bourbon (or to taste)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease chaffing dish or 9×13-inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Place cubed bread or croissants on a large baking tray, place in oven for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until bread is toasted and dry, but not browned.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except milk and cherries.

Gradually add milk, mixture should be very moist but not soupy, (you should not see any milk or liquid that isn’t combined with the bread mix). Add cherries. This quantity fits a round chaffing dish perfectly. Make sure you spray the pan first. Bake at 325°F until brown. Approximately 20 minutes.

For the Sauce:

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, add the sugar and cream together until all butter is absorbed.

Remove from heat and vigorously stir in the egg yolks. Pour in bourbon gradually to your own taste, stirring constantly. Pour over bread pudding and serve immediately.