Award Winning Bread Pudding

 This is my own bread pudding recipe, after tweaking the one I originally got from a friend. This evolved over time, starting out as a way to use up leftover hamburger buns from the high school concession stand.  I played with the original recipe quite a bit - more eggs, less milk, more vanilla. This version won First Prize in the Desserts division of a cooking contest! Several people who have never liked bread pudding, like this recipe.

Enjoy!

1 loaf of bread (your choice. We've even used stale hamburger buns. My go-to is the $1 French loaf from Walmart.)

6 eggs
1-1/4 cups of Sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 Tbsp pure vanilla

1/2 stick real butter (I use salted), melted

Break the bread into small pieces, and put it in a deep 9 by 13 baking dish. Mix eggs, vanilla,
sugar, and milk well with a mixer or whisk. Pour over the bread. Melt half stick of butter and pour over bread mixture. Press bread into the pan to absorb the liquid.

I believe the secret to this recipe's success is that it's extra custardy and not too sweet. So don't use too much bread. I use a little less than a whole Walmart French loaf. You might want to use less at first and add a little more if you think you need it. When ready for the oven it shouldn't look really liquidy, but there shouldn't be any bread poking out.

Bake for 50 minutes @ 350 degrees. Check with a knife and see if it's done. The knife should look shiny (from the butter).

Drizzle with sauce before serving (recipe below).

Variations: 

* Add a small handful of any flavor baking chips, about 1/2 cup. Mix in lightly before pouring custard mix over the bread.

* Cinnamon Raisin: Add 2 tsp Cinnamon to custard mix. Sprinkle 1/3 cup raisins before pouring custard. Mix in a bit and make sure they're covered by custard, or they'll burn. At the end of baking time, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and broil just until the mixture bubbles. Watch it very carefully so it doesn't burn!

* King Cake: **Reduce sugar to 3/4 cup.** Use a medium grocery-store king cake. Stale is fine. If there's not quite enough cake, fill in with small bread pieces and be sure to mix them in well!  Insert baby into the pudding after baking. When cool, drizzle with a medium-thick glaze of powdered sugar and milk. Sprinkle with Mardi Gras colored sugar. You won't need the sauce with this.

I've never done this, but you could use glazed donuts! Reduce sugar as in the king cake recipe.

Sauce:

Vanilla

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 Tsp vanilla

Melt the first three ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

The sauce can be divided in half if you're going to use it as a glaze before serving. This is how I do it for the concession stand. The full recipe is enough to spoon over each serving.

White Chocolate

Follow the recipe for vanilla sauce. When you remove from heat, add 1/3 cup white chips and stir until melted.