Whiskey Bread Pudding

Whiskey and Vanilla Bean Seeds.

Gently tossing the bread with the heavy cream and letting it sit overnight in the fridge. It makes baking it the next day so effin easy. Since the recipe calls for day old bread you need the buy the bread two days before you plan on eating this dish. That requires too much planning ahead in my life, so I used fresh bread and worked out lovely.

Fresh from the muffin tin

Potlucks are fun and all...but I wanted this all to myself. Thankfully, I will be making this tomorrow again for a whole 'nother set of people. Yee-haw. This bread pudding turned out much better than my pumpkin bread pudding, I'm sure using actual bread helped a lot but I also used a few too many croutons last time and it wasn't as creamy as I would have liked it. As for the whiskey, I hate whiskey but it added a little bite to the dish that was toned down by the massive amounts of cream and complemented the sweetness! Since this was a potluck, making these in muffing tins seemed perfect. But I forgot that muffin tin cooking is quite a bit faster so the bottom ended up burning a little teensy bit. But not so horrible, it gave it a burnt sugar taste. I quite liked it. I adapted this recipe from Bon Appetit and it calls for pecans which I omitted since it is a big no-no for my braces. But if I could have added them I would have. 

Whiskey Bread Pudding

Adapted from Bon Appetit

1 lb. day-old rustic white bread

1/2 c. melted butter

2 Tb. plus 1 c. sugar (it calls for 2 Tb. and 1 1/2 c.)

5 large eggs

4 c. heavy cream

1 1/2 Tb. poppy seeds

3 Tb. Whiskey (it calls for Bourbon)

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (Really?! What are you supposed to do with the other half. I just used the whole damn thing)

2 c. pecan pieces

Day Ahead:

Toss bread, melted butter and 2 Tb. sugar in large bowl and set aside. Using electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add cream poppy seeds and salt, beat to blend. Place bourbon in small bowl with scraped vanilla bean, whisk and add to cream mixture. Pour egg mixture over bread add pecans and toss well. Transfer to baking dish/muffin tin, whatever swells your heart with happiness. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. 

Day Of:

Preheat Oven to 325. Bake until top is well browned in spots. 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.