Blackberry Bread Pudding

Another food event at work = another opportunity to try a new recipe! My group at work tries to organize a social event every few months just for fun and to take a break from the every day grind. We usually try to theme our gatherings for the time of year - so this time we did a spring time brunch. I of course wanted to bring something yummy and homemade, but I also wanted it to be something that would travel well and taste good at room temperature. I also didn't want to make anything too involved considering I was planing on making it the morning of. After searching through a few cookbooks I settled on Blackberry Bread Pudding. This recipe is a lot more custard like than a traditional bread pudding, but next time I might try adding more bread and less heavy cream to give a more cake-like consistency. Decide for yourself  :)

 Blackberry Bread Pudding

1/2 loaf Brioche or Challah (I opted for the Challah - so light and delicately sweet)
2 c. half-and-half
2 c. heavy cream
1 pinch of salt
6 large eggs
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. blackberries (I will definitely use more next time, maybe another 1/2 c.)
Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the crust from the bread and cube the crustless loaf into 1 inch cubes. You should have about 3-4 cups of bread cubes. Scatter the cubes onto a baking sheet and lightly toast in oven for 6-7 minutes.

Toasting the bread is a very important step. Think of the bread as a sponge - the less moisture in the bread, the more liquid it can soak up. You want the bread to be able to soak up as much of the custard as possible. Do not overtoast - lightly golden is perfect.

In a medium bowl, mix the half-and-half, heavy cream, and salt. In a large bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Gradually add the cream mixture to the egg mixture while whisking - be sure to break down any clumps.

Lightly fold in the bread pieces until coated. Soak for 15-30 minutes to allow the bread to fully absorb the custard mix. Lastly, gently fold in blackberries and pour into a 9x13 baking dish.

Place the baking dish into a large roasting pan and fill about halfway with hot water.

Baking with a water bath is very important for a lot of egg-based dishes. Moist heat will allow the eggs to cook more gently. Oven heat can be very harsh on light dishes like this and cause your final product to be rubbery or dry  (custards, cheesecakes, puddings, etc. should all be cooked using a water bath)

Bake until the pudding is set and golden brown. The original recipe says about 50 minutes, but mine took a little over an hour. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.

I probably could have let this stay in the oven for another 10 minutes or so just to brown a little more on top but I had to get to work.  It turned out GREAT! Perfect for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert with some vanilla ice cream.

Being the busy working professionals that we are, we wrapped up our spring brunch with an Easter egg hunt! Pam and Sang (who organized this lovely event) hid eggs all around our floor - in cubes, offices, huddle rooms, plants, you name it. Now I have some yummy snacks to get me through the rest of today :)

Coming up next week - Jack's first haircut! Stay posted :)