Make Ahead

Challah Bread Pudding with Raspberries

February 19, 2015
5
7 Ratings
Photo by Bobbi Lin
  • Serves 5 to 6
Author Notes

Bread pudding is cheating: It turns out like a pretty fancy-seeming dessert, but you skip all the hard parts by buying the bread. If you are the most ambitious member of the human race and/or a baker by trade, feel free to craft your own challah from scratch. If you are me, circle the Greenmarket once, eating samples from every bakery stand, and then purchase the most glorious-tasting loaf available. —Kendra Vaculin

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Ingredients
  • 4 cups cubed challah, thick crust portions removed
  • 1 cup whole milk (don't fight this)
  • 1 cup heavy cream (seriously, you're worth it)
  • 1/3 cup (heaping) brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (heaping) granulated sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • pinch nutmeg
  • 1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen (if using frozen, thaw first)
  • Confectioners' sugar, for dusting to serve
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 275° F.
  2. Spread bread cubes into a single layer on a baking sheet and slide into the oven to dry out, for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once dry, remove from oven and set aside. (If bread is sufficiently stale, you may omit this step; alternatively, you can use fresh bread and omit this step as well, which will yield a much more pudding-y pudding -- the cube shape of the pieces will disappear entirely. Do what you like.)
  3. While the bread is drying, whisk the milk, cream, sugars, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg together until smooth.
  4. Increase oven temperature to 350° F and grease an 8-inch round pan or another small, oven-safe dish.
  5. Dump dried bread cubes into a large bowl with the eggy mixture and mix to coat. Allow the mess to hang out for 20 minutes so the bread can soak up as much of it as possible. Fold in the raspberries, and then pour the prepared pan.
  6. Bake bread pudding for 30 minutes, until golden brown and puffed up. After removing it from the oven, allow to sit for a bit to cool. Top with a dusting of confectioners' sugar to serve. This is so, so good the next day due to melding, which is the scientific process by which leftovers become even better than their earlier iterations because they’ve had time to relax and love themselves (or something).

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4 Reviews

Nayanda October 27, 2018
I love when I have most of the major ingredients. I used evaporated milk and almond milk because that's what was on hand. I used a mix of raspberries and strawberries and made a lemon ice glaze to put on top. So good!!
Rose March 9, 2015
This was so quick and easy to put together, and scrumptious. There was a wonderful custard bottom that baked up under the bread.
Joanette March 3, 2015
Made it tonight and it was very, very tasty. The best bread pudding I've ever had!
Lisa G. February 25, 2015
You could do a white (or dark) chocolate drizzle. I'm not much for bread pudding myself, but this sounds kind of good.