Bread Pudding

Back in October, my husband and I went to this little restaurant for our anniversary. I had never tried bread pudding before, and they were offering it, so my husband and I shared a serving. I think we should have got two because O-M-G it was AMAZING!!!!

Sunday was the start of a beautiful week. The sun was shining, and of course that calls for BBQ. We had Aiden's favourite meal: Steak and broccoli :) We don't have dessert very often, but it was one of the days that called for some. It was the perfect opportunity for bread pudding. I had to send my husband on a last minute grocery store trip. French bread and whipping cream. This recipe is adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

Ingredients:

• 6 lightly packed cups of white bread, broken into bite sized pieces
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 4 eggs
• 2.5 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• Optional: Whipped cream (see below)

Directions:

1. Butter a 2-quart baking dish and preheat oven to 350*.
2. Spread bread into prepared dish and sprinkle with raisins.
3. In a large bowl whisk eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Pour over bread and let stand for 10 minutes or so until most of the liquid is absorbed. Periodically press bread down with a spatula.
4. Bake for 55 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
5. Serve warm with whipped cream.

Whipped Cream:
With an electric mixer, beat 1 cup of cold heavy cream with 1 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until thickened.