It is “Raksha Bandhan” which reminds us August is about to end and a series of festivities in the Indian Calendar are about to begin. We are going to celebrate it with the entire family and there are going to be lots and lots of sweets.

Since, I have started blogging my family has made me in charge of the dessert section and believe me I am not complaining but making traditional Indian desserts is not yet my forte. 😉  I am more of a one pot cook and what better way to impress your family than this simple, fast and tasty “BREAD and BUTTER PUDDING” with a dash of cinnamon and let your oven do most of the work for you! The cinnamon is a lovely addition to this classic pudding along with few drops of vanilla essence.

There are many variations to this pudding, you can even add your favorite fruit jam to the bread before baking it or make some caramelized sugar and coat the base of your baking dish with it. Just adjust the ingredients to your liking. You know your bread pudding is set perfectly when you have soft insides which contrast the crispiness on top.

In this recipe I have used dried cherries as I already had them in the fridge but you can use raisins, cashews, nuts even semi- sweetened choc chips or whatever suits your fancy!

Tip: In case you do not eat eggs, just substitute them for more condensed milk and some cornstarch. In a sauce pan or a heavy bottom pan mix milk, sugar and cornstarch very well and bring this mixture to a gentle simmer on a low flame stirring it often. The sauce would start to thicken, continue stirring so that there are no lumps.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Bake Time: 30-35 minutes
Served: Room Temperature

Ingredients

 8-10 bread slices cut into bite size pieces
 3 Eggs
 2 cups of Milk
 ½ cup Condensed Milk (Can be substituted with heavy cream/fresh cream)
 1 ½  tsp of Vanilla Extract
 ½ cup of Sugar
 2 tbsp melted butter
 ½ tsp of Cinnamon
 ½ cup dried cherries (optional)

Method:

1. Whisk everything except the bread together in a mixing bowl. Adjust the sweetness of the custard according to your taste.
2. Cut the bread into bite size pieces, you can use any bread of your choice (whole wheat, brown, multi grain or white bread) I have used wheat bread in this recipe. Also, I have sliced only two sides of the bread edges keeping intact the other two. The reason for doing this is to keep some amount of texture in the pudding otherwise it becomes very thin and the chances of it becoming soggy are very high. You want the bread to absorb the custard as well as retain some texture.
3. Now, coat your baking pan or casserole with a generous layer of melted butter and add the cut bread cubes or pieces on it. Press it gently and add in dried cherries. Continue layering it till you have no more bread and dried cherries left.
4. Pour the custard mixture over the bread layer evenly making sure it goes into every crevice and corner of your baking dish.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit), for 30 – 35 minutes and keep checking on it every 15 minutes. Your bread butter pudding is ready when a tooth pick inserted in the center of the pudding comes out clean and the pudding is set firmly.
   

   Tip: You can add some cocoa powder in the custard mix to make it chocolate bread pudding. Top it up with some choc chips and you are good to go!

6. Now, comes the hard part, you have to let this pudding cool to about room temperature and after it is completely cooled you can serve it with some ice-cream (optional) or just eat as it is! I have sprinkled some icing sugar on top just to make it look fancier.

Enjoy this dessert with your friends and family!

Also, make sure you share your posts too so that I can see them, you can do so on Salt Paprika’s Facebook Page or on Instagram (@salt.paprika) I would love to see them!