Here we are on week 8 of the baking challenge, and I’m actually a week behind. The topic for week 8 was baked puddings. I was wanting to try something I have never made before so I decided on bread pudding. Actually, before this challenge, I have never eaten bread pudding, so I was going into this challenge a little behind the curve. My best friend makes me coconut French toast and let me tell you, this French toast is so amazing, I dreamt about it. When you make French toast, you’re basically putting it in a custard mix, so I thought I would combine the recipes and make the coconut French toast into bread pudding. Because I have never tried bread pudding, I had a few taste testers eat this recipe and they all really liked it and if you try it, I hope you do too! I used this recipe as a guide to bread pudding, but below is what went into coconut French toast bread pudding.

Ingredients

Coconut syrup

• 113 grams unsalted butter
• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 6oz buttermilk or substitute*
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons coconut extract

Bread Pudding

• 8oz whole fat milk
• 8oz heavy cream
• 8 eggs
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4oz cream cheese, cubed
• 16oz French bread, cut into pieces
• 4oz of the coconut syrup from above, leftovers used for topping before serving

*If you do not have buttermilk you can substitute 1 cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white distilled vinegar for 1 cup of buttermilk

Steps

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, and buttermilk. Stir until melted and bring to a boil for about a minute.
2. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the baking soda and coconut extract and stir. The mixture will bubble vigorously, so continue to stir to avoid overflowing.
3. Measure out 4oz of the syrup to mix with the custard and keep the remaining for topping once the bread pudding is served.
4. In a large bowl, whisk to combine the eggs, milk, heavy cream, coconut extract, vanilla extract, and 4oz of the coconut syrup.
5. Add the cut bread pieces into a 13×9 baking pan and pour in the custard mix.
6. Using a large spoon, press the bread down into the custard to absorb the wet mixture.
7. Spread cubed cream cheese over the top and cover with aluminum foil and put in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
8. Preheat oven to 350° and bake the bread pudding for 1 hour. I started it on the top rack for the first 45 minutes and moved it to the middle rack for the remaining 15 minutes as it was getting very brown on top.
9. Rewarm remaining coconut syrup and serve on top of the warm, out of the oven bread pudding.
10. Enjoy!