Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Bread Pudding With Vanilla Sauce

I found a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin Bread on a Manager Special at Kroger several weeks ago.  We ate half the loaf as toast, and I stuck the other half of the loaf in the freezer to be enjoyed at a later time.  I needed a brunch item today, and I remembered that Cinnamon Raisin Bread in the freezer.  We only had a few eggs in the frig, so I needed some kind of recipe that would provide us with a filling breakfast with only a few eggs, a half loaf of bread, and some sausage links on hand. 

I remember reading about breakfast bread puddings on others' weekly menu posts, so I decided to do a little recipe searching and see what I could come up with.  I came across this recipe from Taste of Home - http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Apple-Raisin-Bread-Pudding, but I needed to make a few adjustments based upon what we had on hand.  I was intrigued by this recipe because the author said her kids all liked it.  Endorsements from kids rank high in my book.

Well, this tweaked recipe is going in our family favorite file!  It was the perfect Sunday brunch dish for this cold, wet, dreary day!  We had planned to do a hike in celebration for Earth Day, but it was just not good hiking weather.  Instead, we huddled indoors doing some of our favorite indoor activities and enjoyed this delightful brunch around the kitchen table.  The highlight of this dish was the simple vanilla sauce that I made to pour over the top.  Yummy!  This dish was very similar in texture to my french toast casserole, and the cinnamon and raising bread was a nice change.  We ate all but one small dish from the pan, so next time I find a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread on manager special, I'll probably make a double batch!

Here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce
1/2 loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, cubed
2 Tbsp melted butter
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
6 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1.  Place cubed bread in a greased 9x9 baking dish.
2.  Whisk together melted butter, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
3.  Pour over cubed bread.
4.  Let stand 10-15 minutes to allow bread to soak up liquid (I think you could also make this ahead of time and then just bake it when you need it)
5.  Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350.

While bread pudding is baking, make vanilla sauce.

2/3 cup sugar
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla

1.  In a small sauce pan, combine sugar, corn starch, salt, and water.
2.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens slightly.
3.  Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

Spoon vanilla sauce over cinnamon raisin bread pudding.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding
The simple vanilla sauce disguises manager special cinnamon raisin bread
and a limited number of eggs in the frig to make a scrumptious Sunday brunch!

What do you make for brunch when you only have 3 eggs on hand?

Orange French Toast Bake

One of my favorite things about January (besides the fresh start of a new year) is the abundance of deliciously sweet and tart citrus fruits widely available at low prices.  Clementines, navel oranges, ruby red grapefruit, tangerines. . . .I love them all.

This is a recipe I created combining a few other recipes that are family favorites.  The result was a hit on our family Sunday Brunch table.  Orange French Toast Bake is light, refreshing, and full of sweet, citrus flavor.  The key ingredients are the fresh grated orange zest and fresh squeezed orange juice.  Because it can be made ahead and then baked at a later time, it's easy to fix.  As a bonus, I made this recipe using a 1/2 loaf of Italian bread leftover from Thursday night's dinner and one of the oranges I bought on sale, so it was budget friendly too. 


Here's the recipe:

Orange French Toast Bake
1/2 loaf of Italian bread, cubed
3 eggs
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup orange juice (from concentrate is fine for this part of the recipe)
1/2 tsp orange peel (save the remainder of the orange for the syrup)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp sugar

1.  Place the cubed bread in a greased casserole dish
2.  Whisk together the eggs, half and half, OJ, orange peel, vanilla, and sugar.
3.  Pour over the cubed bread.
4.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 350.  While the oven is preheating, make the syrup to pour over the top.

Orange Syrup
3 Tbsp butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp orange zest
1/4 cup juice from one orange (it's okay if it's a little more or a little less; the pulpy stuff makes it good!)


1.  Combine ingredients in a small saucepan.
2.  Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly.
3.  Pour about half of the syrup over the top of the cubed bread.  (It will look runny, but it won't make your bread soggy.)

Now it's time to bake. . . .

Place the casserole in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Serve the casserole with additional orange syrup.  We had our Orange French Toast Bake with ham slices and fresh fruit.  Enjoy!

Orange French Toast Bake

I'm sharing my recipe over at Jessica's Ultimate Recipe Swap on Life As Mom.  Come on over and see what other citrus based recipes we can drool over!  I've also shared on the Ingredient Spotlight: Oranges and Orange Juice over at Eat at Home.

                                         
                                                   


What's your favorite citrus recipe?