St. Patrick’s Day is a fun and festive holiday honoring the Irish patron St. Patrick and for Irish and Irish-American men and women to celebrate their heritage. While there are different ways to observe this holiday, one of the best ways to celebrate is with a delicious meal, including dessert. One of the best desserts to make specifically for St. Patrick’s Day is bread pudding. For this St. Paddy’s Day, try making this Irish Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce.
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
- Loaf of French bread
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- 3/4 cup of heavy cream
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3/4 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- One 12-oz can of evaporated milk
- 2 lightly beaten eggs
- Cinnamon sugar to taste
The French bread will be cut into half inch cubes. You will need approximately ten cubes for the recipe. While traditional bread pudding uses raisins, there are many who are not fans of raisins. If this is the case for you, then you can certainly substitute the raisins for chocolate chips.
Caramel Sauce
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 cup milk
For the best results of melting all the ingredients well, you may want to consider cubing the butter and cream cheese.
Directions
Instructions for Caramel Sauce:
In a small saucepan, you will combine the water and sugar on medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, you can cease stirring and allow the sugar and water mixture to simmer until it is golden. This will take about seventeen minutes. Be sure to not stir during this time. When the sugar mixture has turned golden, you will remove from heat. Delicately add the cream cheese and butter into the sugar syrup and whisk constantly. Make sure there are no lumps. You will then stir in the milk. Set aside.
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Instructions for Bread Pudding:
Begin to prepare for the bread pudding by preheating the oven to 350°F as well as spraying your casserole dish with nonstick spray. In a large bowl, you will stir in the sugar, milk, evaporated milk, vanilla extract, beaten eggs, and two-thirds cup of the caramel sauce with a whisk until combined well. You will then add the bread cubes into the bowl, pushing the cubes down with a spatula until each piece is coated.
Cover the entire mixture and chill in the refrigerator for around thirty minutes. This will give the cube bread pieces to soak up all the flavor. Once you have allowed the mixture to soak and chill, you will pour it into the baking dish. Top the mixture with either chocolate chips or raisins. You will then bake the dish for at least thirty-five minutes. When the bread pudding is set, you will serve warm with the remaining caramel sauce.
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