Grilled Cheese Invitational 2010; Bread Pudding

The GCI 2010 turned out well. I did two sammiches, one traditional (the "Cheddargy Dome" with die-cut rounds of Peter Reinhart's sandwich bread & slab-cut Velveeta) and one sweet (the "Beautiful World", with mascarpone, brie, peanut butter cup, banana, and marshmallows). No trophies, but it was fun anyhow.

So I had lots of crusts & bits of nice white bread left over from the Cheddargy dome, so I made my first bread pudding tonight, using the ATK recipe. For next time:

1. Add raisins (Beckey likes raisins!)
2. Try the chocolate version the right way: melt chips in the milk + cream, and let it cool. Then whisk into eggs, etc.

Here's my version of the recipe; I reduced cream by 1.5 cups and increased milk by 1 cup.

Bread Pudding
(serves 8-10)

4 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3.5 cups milk
3 tbsp brandy (or use bourbon)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp cinammon
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sugar
8oz + 4oz (12oz/340g total) nice bread pieces & crusts, cut/torn into 1.5" pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
   
2. Whisk eggs and sugar. Whisk in all ingredients except cinammon, butter, remaining sugar and bread.
3. In 9x13 pan, place 8oz of bread. Pour egg mixture over. Let sit for 10 minutes.
4. In separate bowl, add remaining 4oz of bread + sugar. Pour melted butter over and add cinnamon. Mix until combined.
5. Sprinkle butter/bread mixture over top of pan.
   
6. Bake 40-50 minutes, until well set but slightly jiggly; check at 40 min. It should be just a bit jiggly.
7. Serve warm with cream or whipped cream.