Fabulous Bread Pudding Recipe

I went to the shelter yesterday to drop off food and for the first time I saw their bread room.  I can not even tell you how horrified I was.  It was full of donated bread that was so stale you could have used it as baseball bat.  I really have to wonder how people justify donating this trash to the homeless.  Do they think they are lesser people than the rest of us and don't deserve fresh food?  I think not!  I went through it and found what was salvageable and promised them I would make something good for them to eat.  With some of it, I made bread pudding.

This is my favorite bread pudding recipe.  I have never had better. Start by cutting 8 cups of semi stale bread into cubes.

In a heavy pot, mix 3/4 C. dark brown sugar, 3 C.whole milk, 4 T. butter, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 C. raisins.  Cook over medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Do not let this boil.

Beat 4 eggs and temper them with some of the milk mixture and then mix them both together.

This is the bread they gave to me.  The homeless are now giving me food!

Once again, blogger decides how to load my pics....grrr! Add 2 thinly sliced bananas to the bread.

This is me tempering the eggs.

Pour the mixture over the bread.  Bake this at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.  Do not overcook it.  When you shake the pan a bit it should not move around in the middle.  Test it with a toothpick.

For the sauce, add 1/3 C. of heavy cream, 1 C of sugar and 1/2 C of butter in a heavy sauce pan.  Cook over medium heat whisking until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves.  Add 1 T. vanilla extract.

I bought them some ice cream so they will each get a piece of this topped with a scoop of ice cream and a ladle of the vanilla sauce.