Monday, May 12, 2008

Hot dog bun bread pudding is post-party favorite


We partied on yesterday.

It was the best Mom’s Day ever, with my three offspring and their spouses here along with their (collective) six kids as well as my daughter’s MIL and husband (would that be DMIL+H ?), Jan and John. We never lack for fabulous food and yesterday was no exception. With perfect cookout weather, Bob and John handled the grill chores, cranking out the burgers and franks. To go along we enjoyed Jan’s strawberry-spinach salad, my home-made bean salsa (for Dave), and lotsa fixin’s. And of course, there were plenty of sweets, including carrot cake made by Matt, Sarah’s birthday cake, and some of my fresh strawberry sorbet. Everyone helped make it a super day, including Katie, Kerri, Paul, Autumn, Isabelle, Jasmine, Jack, Skye, and Connor.

No bread pudding? you ask. We made up for that missing element today.

The slightly stale hot dog bun was staring me in the face this morning, begging to be made into a delectable bread pudding. And so we did, adding some chopped Newman’s Own Organic apricots, and a spoonful or two of salted cashew chunks.

No exaggeration. This is one of the very best bread puddings I’ve ever made! (And no, I don’t say that all the time.) I know what I’m having for breakfast tomorrow. If there’s any left.

HOT DOG BUN BREAD PUDDING WITH APRICOTS AND CASHEWS

1/2 of a day-old hot-dog bun, cubed
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots (such as Newman’s Own Organic)
1/8 cup chopped roasted and salted cashews
1 large egg
1/3 cup half & half or whole milk
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon-sugar

Scatter bread cubes in 1-1/2-pint (or up to 4-cup size) ceramic baking dish that has been buttered or sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with chopped apricots and cashews. In medium bowl, whisk together egg, milk, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Pour over bread mixture in pan. Let stand about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar, and bake about 45 minutes, or until top is browned and crispy and pudding is firm.
Serve warm or at room temp with whipped cream. Serves 2 to 4.
© 2008, Recipe by Portia Little.




7 comments:

Rochelle R. said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful Mother's Day. A recipe group I belong to had a big discussion awhile back about hot dog bun bread pudding, everyone said it was yummy but I haven't tried it yet.

MoCookbooksEtc said...

Now who woulda' thought to make a Bread Pudding out of hot dog buns! Only one person that I know of....Portia the Bread Pudding Queen.

What beautiful names your grandchildren have!

Mo
CookbooksEtCetera

JoeE said...

When you say 1/2 of a day old hot dog bun, did you mean 1/2 of a 'bag' of buns, because it seems that 1/2 a bun wouldn't give you much bread unless it was one of those footlong buns.

Portia Little said...

Joe, this is a small bread pudding and I actually made it with a half a hot dog bun. With the one-third cup apricots along with the cashews, one egg and milk, it all firmed up very well. If you'd like a more dense BP, you can always add more hot dog bun!!
Portia

Portia Little said...

Joe, this is a small bread pudding and I actually made it with a half a hot dog bun. With the one-third cup apricots along with the cashews, one egg and milk, it all firmed up very well. If you'd like a more dense BP, you can always add more hot dog bun!!
Portia

Karen said...

I'm thinking about making this and really am confused by the 1/2 of ONE hot dog bun.....that evens out to about 1/2 cup bun...is that really correct?
If I wanted to use a 8x8 dish I'm thinking I should quadruple the other ingredients; at least.
I've been wanting a good hot dog bun bread pudding and don't want to mess this up. THANKS

Portia Little said...

Karen, several people have asked the same question. As I mentioned previously, this is a small bread pudding and I actually made it with a half a hot dog bun. With the one-third cup apricots along with the cashews, one egg and milk, it all firmed up very well. If you'd like a more dense BP, you can always add more hot dog bun!!
And to feed more people, double the recipe. Enjoy!!
Portia