Orange Bread Pudding

Let me start by saying, I by no means like orange marmalade, which is why every time my mom makes this dish I am so pleasantly surprised as to how much I absolutely LOVE it. It is the top comfort food, so perfect for the winter holidays and my favourite treat for cold winter nights. Everything about it simply screams comfort, especially that warm crème anglaise drizzled on top...or swimming in it ;)

Something I love about this recipe is the variations, you can use different breads, around the holidays we often use pantone (another thing I don't love) but is also quite nice in this recipe, you could even use, say, cinnamon bread! Though this time and most often we used just regular white toast bread, untoasted of course! I suppose you could even use other jams you like though I strongly suggest the orange marmalade, it adds bursts of tangy zest in comparison to the creamy sauce..mmmm, I want some just thinking about it!

It's a super easy dish to make as long as you have the patience to wait for it to bake, which I have none, but it's worth it!  Trust me!

 

 



Ingredients 

• 15 slices white bread
• Butter for the bread
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups 10% cream or 1 cup cream, 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tbs vanilla
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 jar orange marmalade

For the crème anglaise I just used a custard mix and added a little bit extra milk to make it more like a sauce than custard

 

Directions

 

1. Butter a 9x13 glass baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a bowl combine the eggs, cream, vanilla and salt and mix until sugar is dissolved
3. Cut off the crusts of the bread slices and lightly butter one side of each lice of bread
4. Cut the bread in half diagonally and lay to fill the bottom of the pan, spooning marmalade over each layer, there should be three layers (I find it best if you cut for slices diagonally for one layer but then the fifth slice just in half horizontally to fill the end space in the dish, begin each layer on the opposite side to the last so the layers overlap rather than stack)
5. Pour the egg mixture over the bread being careful to cover all the bread
6. Just before putting in the oven sprinkle another spoonful of sugar over the top to create a crisp crust
7. Bake on the middle rack for about 55 minutes or until the top is golden and the center is puffed

Serve warm with the crème anglaise!