Straight Up Bread Pudding w/ Caramel Sauce

Preface. So at my household, we go through bread like CRAZY. We love making sandwiches for an easy snack during the day in between meals...as do many other people hehe. Although I hold nothing against the edge pieces, I find myself and the rest of my family for that matter avoiding them. Growing up, my mom used to always collect those edge pieces and store them in an air-tight container in the fridge. I always wondered why until one day I opened up the fridge, and saw a huge bowl of what looked like at the time, vomited milky bread swirled with yellow gunks of nasty (the eggs!). I was younger so I had no idea what I was looking at. Being a kid, I was somewhat intrigued by what I was staring at. And also being a kid, we love nasty stuff, so I slowly Ieaned forward preparing for the worst and took a whif only to be greeted by a surprisingly wonderful aroma of sweetness.

Long story short, my mom, of course, was prepping to bake what would be the first ever bread pudding I will have tried. I was about 12 or 13.  The fragrant smell of the warm bread and caramelizing sugar in the oven circulating our home was hypnotizing. It just smelled like delicious....in the noun kind of way.

My mouth watered knowing what was to come. My stomach growled for it knew as well.

My first slice was glorious.

Since then, I've taken after my mom and have been baking bread puddings when I can.
The recipe I came up with is an adaptation of her's. I added a few things here and there to make it my own and I'm happy to say my mom approves! :)

If you'd like to try this, it's pretty basic and simple.

 Bread Pudding

- 5 C of bread

- 3/4 C milk

- 2 eggs slightly beaten

- 1/2 C sugar

- pinch of salt

- pinch of cinnamon

- pinch of nutmeg

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. Grease baking dish or loaf pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Bake for 45 mins to an hour or until top is golden brown.

Check out my homemade caramel sauce recipe to drizzle over the top. 

ENJOY!