Description
A cozy apple bread pudding featuring tender apples, soft cubes of bread, and a lightly sweet custard—perfect for fall when served warm with cream or a scoop of ice cream.
Ingredients
- 4 cups cubed day‑old bread
- 2 tablespoons butter (for sautéing apples)
- 2 cups baking apples, peeled and sliced (e.g., Cortland)
- ¼ cup raisins (optional)
- 1 ¾ cups milk (2% or 3%)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons butter (for milk mixture)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (about 175°C). Grease or prepare a 7×11‑inch or 9×9‑inch baking dish (or use a cast iron skillet).
- Cube the day‑old bread and place it in a large mixing bowl.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add the sliced apples and raisins, and sauté for about 3–5 minutes until the apples are slightly softened. Pour the apple‑raisin mixture over the bread cubes.
- In the same skillet (or in a saucepan), combine the milk, light brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Warm the mixture over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Pour this egg mixture into the warm milk‑sugar‑butter mixture, stirring to combine.
- Pour the combined custard mixture over the bread and apples. Gently stir to ensure most of the bread is moistened. Transfer everything into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake for 40–50 minutes, until the top is golden and the apples are tender—insert a knife and it should come out mostly clean around the center.
- Let the bread pudding rest for about 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm, optionally with a drizzle of cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
- Use a tart baking apple variety (e.g., Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Cortland) so the apple flavor holds up well through baking.
- If you don’t have raisins, you can use dried cranberries or omit them entirely.
- For extra richness, you can swap part of the milk with heavy cream or use half‑and‑half.
- If the bread isn’t day‑old, you can dry it out by baking the cubes briefly at 300°F for about 10 minutes.
- This pudding freezes well—once cooled, wrap in plastic and foil, freeze up to 3 months; thaw and reheat.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40–50 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/8 of dish
- Calories: 310
- Sugar: 20g
- Sodium: 150mg
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 45g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 7g
- Cholesterol: 60mg
