Tsoureki Bread Pudding with Honey Bourbon Whiskey Sauce

Has anyone found themselves with left over tsoureki (a Greek Easter bread) or any type of sweet or otherwise bread? Are you tired of eating the same version of the bread until it’s gone? Well, if this is you you can re-purpose it into a different yummy dish.

We had Orthodox Easter last weekend and even though tsoureki bread is yummy by itself of simply dipped in milk or coffee it gets a little tiring eating it the same way, and since I don’t like to throw food away I try to figure out other ways to use it before we get tired of eating it. So yesterday I made stuffed french toast and then bread pudding to use it up. It was a hit!

Do to a lack of pantry items, I used cranberries for raisins (I believe they are most popular with bread pudding); hazelnuts for other nut; a mixture of 1% milk with heavy cream to try and get the whole milk consistency, but you can substitute any like ingredients that you think will work.

For the bread pudding, you just need:

• 4 eggs, beaten well
• 4 cups of milk (whole is usually better, but a mixture of whatever you have)
• ½ cup sugar (also, this depends on how sweet your tsoureki, or other bread, is…if not too sweet you may add more sugar, to your liking).
• 1/4 cup butter, melted (4 tablespoons)
• Pinch of salt (no more than ¼ teaspoon)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½-1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 8-10 cups cubed or torn bread (tsoureki or otherwise)
• ½ cup chopped hazelnuts (I just used a mallet to break them up in a bag, circular nuts are hard to chop…they roll all over the place 🙂 ).
• 1/3 cup cranberries
• 1/3 cup American Honey bourbon/whiskey (but you can use brandy or a fruit juice, or whatever you prefer to plump up the cranberries/dried fruit)
• Ground cinnamon, powdered sugar, and or mint leaves, for garnish

Steps:

1. Soak your cranberries in the whisky (or whatever you are using) for at least 15 minutes to 30 minutes then drain and reserve the liquid for the sauce.
2. Put your bread in a baking dish, approximately 9 by 13”.
3. Mix eggs through vanilla extract together well.
4. Pour over bread and push the bread in to soak up the liquid. If you find that it feels dry then just add a little more milk on the top and gently fold in to incorporate.  All bread pieces should be soaked in liquid. 
5. Sprinkle the cranberries and nuts over the bread and gently fold in.
6. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes (my dish was higher than most so I baked it 40).  Check it at 30 and if a toothpick comes out clean take it out.  If you bake it too long it will become dryer…if that happens you can eventually cut up the bread pudding and make dessert croutons with it 🙂 .
7. Pour warm sauce over warm bread.
8. Serve in bowl sprinkled with cinnamon and/or powdered sugar and a dollop of whipped cream!

For the sauce, you just need:

• 1 egg, beaten well
• 2 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cups milk (whole if you have it, if not, improvise)
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup light brown sugar (you can use any sugar you have if you don’t have brown or light brown…but brown gives it a more smoky flavor)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• ¼-½ teaspoon ground cinnamon ( I can’t remember exactly…lol)
• The bourbon/whisky left over from the soaking cranberries
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Whisk everything well, except for the vanilla extract, in a pot.
2. Heat over medium low heat for about 5-10 minutes (depends on your heat).  It is important to whisk continuously otherwise your egg will curdle.
3. Once you can coat the back of a spoon you are done.
4. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
5. Pour over the bread pudding or serve it on the side.

Kali Orexi!