Custardy deliciousness: simple cinnamon, sugar, vanilla, and blueberries make this dessert something special enough to take to a potluck or party – Blueberry Bread Pudding!
This month’s First on the First theme? The humble bread pudding. The terms of food history, the story of bread pudding as a dessert began a bit like my story for this recipe: It was out of necessity. I needed to bring a dessert to a potluck party and had no time (or inclination) to go to the store – so I had to use ingredients I had on hand. I find while I can usually make baking substitutions for situations in which my refrigerator is bare of milk (by using powdered milk,) eggs are a different story. (How I wish my village allowed chickens!) So assessing the ingredients available in my fridge, freezer and pantryHouskand: Frozen houska bread leftover from Easter, whole wheat bread containing so much wheat fiber no one in my house found it palatable, powdered milk, and frozen blueberries we picked this summer. And thus this Blueberry Bread Pudding was born.
Like many ‘ancient’ recipes (Baked Apples comes to mind) which are about 5,000 times more delicious than any one recipe ingredient, in my recipe, (powdered) milk combined with the eggs and cooked into custardy deliciousness; cinnamon, sugar and good vanilla added luscious aroma; and blueberries made the dessert something special enough to take to a pot luck without hiding it in a nondescript casserole carrying case.
PrintBlueberry Bread Pudding
- Yield: about 15 1x
Description
Creamy custard with bread: Vanilla, blueberries and leftover bread combine for a dish worthy to take to a potluck or party!
Ingredients
- 3 cups low fat milk (or reconstituted nonfat powdered milk)
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 10 slices whole grain or houska bread (or combination of both)
- 2 cups frozen blueberries (not thawed)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and stir well. Stir in bread until well coated. Stir in blueberries and pour into prepared baking dish. Let stand at room temperature for at least 15 minutes for bread to absorb liquid.
- Bake uncovered for 60-70 minutes; using a spatula, press down on the bread a few times during the baking process. Pudding is done when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Carrie @ poet in the pantry
Tuesday 2nd of October 2012
That's the greatest part--it really is making the best of what you have on hand! Nice touch with the blueberries!
Kate | Food Babbles
Tuesday 2nd of October 2012
This sounds delicious! I adore blueberries and think they must have been so good in this bread pudding. Yum!
Melissa
Tuesday 2nd of October 2012
Wow, I'm impressed that you were able to throw things together based on what you had on hand and came up with something that looks this delicious! I know I could never do that!! Great pick this month!! :)