This is a dish I made recently sans kid-lets, though they did do their all for the team by helping to devour this treat in record time. The recipe came about as a submittal to a Food52 contest for a "Best Non-Pie Thanksgiving Dessert", and as someone who comes from a family where there were never any non-pie desserts at Thanksgiving (not even a jello-mold thank you very much), I had to come up with one from scratch to enter into the contest.
When thinking of the Thanksgiving holiday, cranberries and pumpkin were obvious choices, and as one of my favorite pies of the season is pecan, I decided to toss some of them in as well. I am a sucker for bread puddings of all sorts, and while I generally don't eat or cook much with white chocolate (its just a touch too sweet for me), to me, holiday desserts are all about the splurge. For many of us, eating through the holidays is all about celebration,indulgence, and giving thanks for our good fortune. It is the one time of year when we put away our diet guides and eat things that we dutifully avoid during any other season. In that spirit, I threw caution to the wind and included a POUND of high quality white chocolate in this dish for its luxurious mouth feel and sweetness.
The result?
A world-class bread pudding ideal for inclusion in the most indulgent holiday feasts. A treat that is so decadent, that most of us will purposefully squirrel the recipe away for most of the year, uncovering it only for an over-the-top holiday blow-out. Intrigued? The clock is ticking…..the holiday season is upon us….what are you waiting for? Go make this rich extravagance NOW before its too late!
Ho-Ho-Ho – Steve
Cranberry Bread Pudding with Pumpkin Spiced Crème Anglaise
by: Steve Dunn
Ingredients:
For the bread pudding:
- 1 loaf Brioche, or other sweet bread
- 16 ounces high quality white chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, split or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 7 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For the crème anglaise:
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 5 large egg yolks
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste
Method:
For the bread pudding:
- Preheat oven to 325℉ degrees.
- Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes and place in a large mixing bowl. Toss in the chopped white chocolate, the nuts and cranberries, and mix to distribute.
- Combine the milk, cream, and vanilla paste and bring to a boil over medium heat. Whisk the eggs with the sugar until light ribbons form. Add hot milk mixture to eggs slowly, whisking constantly to temper. Strain custard over bread, chocolate, nuts and berries, and let stand for 20-30 minutes to allow custard to soak into bread.
- Pour the mix into a buttered 9”X13” baking dish and place the baking dish in another, larger roasting pan. Pour hot water into larger pan to reach 1 inch up side of the baking dish. Bake the bread pudding for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until custard is set and the top is golden.
For the crème anglaise:
- Prepare a clean bowl set over an ice bath, and set it aside along with a fine mesh strainer.
- Whisk together sugar, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg and egg yolks until light yellow and frothy. Set aside. Heat the half-and-half and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to simmer.
- Whisk a small amount of half-and-half into the egg yolk mixture to temper, then whisk the remaining half-and-half into the egg yolk mixture. Pour the combined egg and half-and-half mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it just begins to simmer. Do not let the mixture boil. Gently cook until mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Remove from heat and strain though the fine mesh strainer into the bowl set over ice. Stir occasionally until cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.
To serve: either spoon warm bread pudding into a bowl and drizzle with some creme anglaise, or (as in the picture above), cut portions of the pudding from the pan with the help of a ring mold and decorate with a drizzle of the creme for a more formal presentation.
Serves 12-14