Classic Creole Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce

Ingredients

• 8 cupsday-old French bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
• 3 cupswhole milk
• 1 cupheavy cream
• 4eggs
• 1 cupgranulated sugar
• 1/2 cuppacked brown sugar
• 2 tspvanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tspground cinnamon
• 1/2 tspground nutmeg
• 1/4 tspkosher salt
• 1/2 cupraisins
• 4 tbspunsalted butter, melted, for the pan
• 1/2 cupunsalted butter (1 stick), for whiskey sauce
• 1 cupgranulated sugar, for whiskey sauce
• 1egg, for whiskey sauce
• 1/4 cupbourbon whiskey, or to taste

Nutrition / serving

No nutrition data for this recipe — tap Nutrition in Ask Chef AI above for an estimate.

Method

1. 1

   Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.

2. 2

   Place torn bread in a large bowl. Whisk together milk, cream, 4 eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over the bread and press gently to submerge. Let soak 20 minutes, until the bread has absorbed most of the custard.

   ⏱Start 20:00
3. 3

   Stir in the raisins, then pour the mixture into the prepared dish and drizzle with the melted butter.

4. 4

   Bake 45–50 minutes, until puffed, golden brown, and just set in the center with no wet custard visible.

   ⏱Start 45:00
5. 5

   While the pudding bakes, make the whiskey sauce: melt the 1/2 cup butter with the 1 cup sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

6. 6

   Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the egg vigorously and quickly to temper it without scrambling, then return to low heat and cook, stirring constantly, 2–3 minutes until slightly thickened.

   ⏱Start 2:00⏱Start 2:00
7. 7

   Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon to taste — add more or less depending on how strong you like it.

8. 8

   Serve the bread pudding warm, with the whiskey sauce spooned generously over each portion.