Granny's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

Bread pudding is my favorite comfort food dessert.  I fell in love with it when I went on my first Holland America cruise.  They serve it every day on the Lido Deck.  Yum!  The following recipe I found posted on Redneck Recipes Facebook page.


Granny's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce 

• 8 slices cubed white bread
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Sauce Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions for Pudding:
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine bread and raisins in large bowl. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted (4 to 7 minutes). Pour milk mixture over bread; let stand 10 minutes.
Stir in all remaining pudding ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set in center.
Directions for Sauce:
Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in vanilla.
To serve, spoon warm pudding into individual dessert dishes; serve with sauce. Store refrigerated -Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

After reading some of the comments I altered the recipe:

Before baking

Stale bread works best for bread pudding.  If you don't have any or just can't wait, toast the bread in the oven until slightly browned before cubing it.  This makes it acquire the same properties as being stale and absorbs the "pudding" much better without making the bread too soggy.

After baking

Only use half the vanilla called for and add rum or imitation rum to make up the difference.  I promise you won't regret it!

Add unsweetened whipped cream on top to even out the sweetness. Also, I mixed in 1 cup of cream rather than 1/2 cup to make more sauce and it thickened really well. It should be notated that the sauce is not a vanilla sauce but a caramel sauce which in my opinion is much tastier.