Caramel Apple Bread Pudding is a gorgeous fall dessert for a crowd. For twenty plus years I’ve belonged to a bookclub, which means I’ve hosted over twenty times. Normally, I’d have had the book club girls up to the farm over the summer but with everything we had going on with our daughters coming home it didn’t happen. We’re well into fall so I wanted a cozy, delicous dessert and this Caramel Apple Bread Pudding is just the ticket.
Hosting any kind of an event on a weekday can be stressful. I always look for a dessert that’s easy to make but fabulous to eat. I can’t see the sense of eating dessert if it’s ish. The fun thing about bread pudding is the flexibilty you have with the main ingredients. Use your favourite type of apple, peeled or unpeeled and for the bread; sky’s the limit as long as it’s day old. You don’t want it hard and molding just slightly stale so that it will soak up the caramel custard. White bread, raisin bread, challah, brioche, and croissants are all great candidates. I chose white bread and MacIntosh apples because that’s what I had on hand. To save time, I bought the caramel sauce and ice cream to serve with with it but homemade would have been off the charts!
With Canadian Thanksgiving days away, my Caramel Apple Bread Pudding is an easy and delicious alternative to the classics like apple pie or pumpkin pie and a lot less work.
Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for reading.
Ingredients
6 apples, cored and cut into 1 inch chunks
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
7 extra large egg yolks
2 cups whipping cream
1 1/3 cups whole milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 cups day old bread cubes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 cup pecan pieces, toasted
Instructions
Caramel Apple Filling
- Place apple chunks, maple syrup, brown sugar and butter in a wide, deep skillet over medium high heat. Stir often to keep apples from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Cook apple mixture for 15 minutes until apples are just soft but not mushy.
- Remove from heat.
Caramel Custard
- Preheat oven to 300*F
- Spray 9" x 3" baking dish or cake pan with spray release.
- Whisk egg yolks in a large mixing bowl with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and vanilla.
- Add cream and milk and whisk until well incorporated.
- Pour apple mixture into custard and stir well.
- Add bread crumbs and toasted pecans and toss well.
- Allow mixture to stand in bowl for 15 minutes until the bread cubes have had time to soak up the custard.
- Pour mixture into prepared baking dish opr cake pan and cover with aluminium foil.
- Place in oven on bottom rack and bake for 45 minutes.
- Remove foil, increase oven temperature to 325*F and bake an additional 30 minutes.
- Insert a butter knife into the middle of your pudding. If the knife comes out clean, it's done. If not, continue baking and check at 10 minute intervals.
- When baked, remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes.
- Serve with caramel sauce.
Notes
THE LOVE: Take the time to trim the crusts from your bread. You don't have to but the custard can't penetrate the crust side of the cube. You'll want your bread cubes to be as custardy as possible.
