Eggo Bread Pudding

Photo via leggomyeggo.com

So I've always wanted to make bread pudding, especially since I am a huge Food Network's Chopped fan and it seems to be a favorite for the dessert round. I also buy lots of Rice Milk ever since my daughter had a year where she couldn't have any dairy. I've continued to give her and my twin boys rice milk ever since.

On the back of the vanilla flavored rice milk is a bread pudding recipe that I have wanted to try for years now. I decided today was the day, however, I only had a quarter of a loaf of bread in my pantry, and the recipe calls for a pound of (french) bread. What I did have, however, is the Sam's Club size box of Eggo waffles(Can you tell I'm a mom? LOL). I figured Eggos are pretty much a sweeter version of bread, so I decided to use them instead of bread for the recipe.

I followed the recipe on the back of the rice milk carton and substituted with the Eggos, said a small prayer and threw it into my oven. While the bead pudding was cooking, I made a quick maple syrup sauce to pour over the bread pudding as a topping.

Here is the finished product:

 Can you say OH MY YUMMY?!?!?!?!

The consistency was perfect, the taste was a wonderful compilation of sweet vanilla, cinnamon and sugar, bread and buttery goodness! I also loved the raisins in it as well. 

The maple syrup topping sealed the deal with an extra pop of sweet and buttery flavors.

You certainly don't have to use Rice Milk if you don't want to. You can use milk, half and half, cream, whatever. I would make sure to add some vanilla though if you don't use the vanilla-flavored rice milk.

Here are the recipes for the bread pudding and maple syrup sauce:

Bread Pudding (Made with Eggos):

Serves 8-12

12 Homestyle Eggos. (I microwaved them until soft and tore them into 1 inch pieces)

 4 eggs, beaten

2 egg yolks, beaten

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar (I used white, you could probably use brown if you wanted)

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups cold Rice Dream Vania rice milk

1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with non stick vegetable oil. Tear Eggos (bread) into 1 inch pieces and place in baking dish. Mix beaten eggs, yolks, butter and 1 1/4 cup sugar in large bowl. Put remaining 1/4 cup sugar aside. Add nutmeg, cinnamon and rice milk to mixture, whisking until well blended. Stir in raisins. Pour mixture over Eggos and then pat Eggos and raisins gently into mixture to coat and prevent burning. Let set for 10 minutes so Eggos can absorb mixture. Cover baking dish with foil. Bake 35 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining sugar (and I also added some extra cinnamon). Bake uncovered for another 30-40 minutes, or until top is golden brown and pudding puffs (This was about 35 min for me). Take the pudding out and let it set for about 20 minutes and serve warm. 

Maple Syrup Sauce:

1 cup maple syrup

2 tablespoons heavy cream (I used 4 tablespoons of half and half because that's all I had lol)

3 tablespoons butter

Place the syrup in a small, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, and cook it over medium-high heat until reduced to 3/4 cup. Remove from heat and whisk in cream (half and half) and finish by slowing whisking in butter. Keep sauce warm. Pour over bread pudding just before serving. 

Bon Appetit!