Strawberry Bread Pudding

 

Greetings all!  As promised, I have some recipes and other foodie items from the past few weeks to share.  Let me begin with the dessert I made for Doc's birthday.

Doc and I have spent some serious time at Foster's Market in Durham.  In fact, that's where we met for our first date.  I remember each of us getting coffee and a cookie that February afternoon, and I just sat there thinking, if this guy enjoys Foster's even half as much as I do, this could be a very good thing.  Well, over a year later, we're frequenting Foster's as often as possible for its good food, fun atmosphere, and constant invitation to sit back and relax.

I'd say our favorite time to go is on a Sunday.  Since we go to Summit on Saturday afternoons, we have all of Sunday to do whatever we'd like.  And Foster's we like.  With a laptop and iPad under his arm and a bag of full of papers to grade on my shoulder, we order up some sort of feast from the brunch menu, a menu that never disappoints, be it a bowl of grits, a breakfast burrito or the chef's brunch special.  One day I ordered a scoop of the bread pudding du jour for Doc to try.  I'm almost positive it was strawberry, but as we've had so many scoops at this point, I can't remember.  I've got Doc hooked, and so I knew that making him strawberry bread pudding for his birthday dessert would be a hit.

As the original recipe indicates, this dish is certainly breakfast-worthy, but in now way limited to pre-noon hours.  You can use whatever fruit you'd like, even a combination of fruits if you wish (Foster's lists blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, pitted cherries, sliced peaches, nectarines, or plums as possibilities).  I did add some sugar to the custard, but if your chosen fruit is sweet enough already, you could just rely on the glaze to sweeten things up.  And since I served this to only four people, I halved the recipe and used an 8x8 baking dish.  But if you're serving a crowd, the orginal portion will be perfect.

 

Strawberry Bread Pudding
adapted from Foster's Market Sweet Fruit-Full Breakfast Bread Pudding

Bread Pudding
Butter for greasing the baking dish
2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
2 cups half and half
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
6 cups 1 1/2 inch cubes of day-old French bread
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Buttery Glaze
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with butter or spray with vegetable oil spray.
2. Stir the buttermilk, half-and-half, eggs, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the bread cubes and let them sit in the liquid for 10 to 15 minutes, until the bread is soft and has absorbed almost all the liquid. Add the fruit and stir gently to combine. Pour the bread into the buttered baking dish, making sure to get all the liquid out of the bowl.
3. Cut a sheet of aluminum foil large enough to cover the baking dish and grease it with butter and place it, buttered side down, over the baking dish. Bake the bread pudding for 1 hour. Uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more, until the top of the bread pudding is golden brown and crispy.
4. While the bread pudding is baking, whisk the butter and cream together in a small bowl. Slowly add the sifted confectioners’ sugar, whisking until the glaze is smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the still-warm pudding. Serve warm.

Serves 10-12