Bread Pudding with Brandy Sauce – an Easy Holiday Dessert
If you’re looking for an easy dessert recipe your guests will love, try this Bread Pudding with Brandy Sauce! This mouth-watering dessert will have everyone asking for the recipe – it’s that good and surprisingly easy to make! Jump to the Recipe!
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Table of Contents
- Get Ready for Holiday Meal Planning!
- What is Bread Pudding?
- What Ingredients Are In This Dessert?
- What Sauce is Used on Top?
- How Difficult is This to Make?
- How Long Will It Take to Make This?
- What Tells Me It’s Fully Cooked?
- Can I Make This Before the Holiday?
- Is This Able to Be Refrigerated?
- Can This Dessert Be Frozen?
- Where Did This Recipe Originate?
- Jump to the Recipe!
Holiday Meal Planning Begins, and That Includes Dessert!
I’m starting my holiday meal planning with Thanksgiving approaching. This year, I’ve decided – if it’s not easy to make, it’s not happening! Too often, the hosts of holiday celebrations spend the day in the kitchen. When we host, I spend very little time with friends and family. This year, I decided to change that!
I’m having all the traditional things we usually have on holidays. But I’m figuring ways out, so I don’t need to spend the whole day cooking! I’m making a 7-pound turkey breast in my Instant Pot (it’s an 8-quart, so there’s plenty of room). The day before I’m making two of our “every holiday side dishes.” I’ll make a tray of stuffing and a sweet potato casserole. I’m making one of our appetizers on the holiday, and that’s a Maryland Crab Soup that everyone loves (it’s not a holiday without it for us!). Our other pre-meal appetizers include salads and a sweet & creamy coleslaw. I like to include an easy dish for fussy kids, so I make Air Fried Chicken Tenders with dipping sauces. This year, I’m committed to Making Thanksgiving Dinner the Easy Way!
Now for the best part—dessert! We make several desserts for each holiday, including a few pies (recipes will be up soon) and the absolute best bread pudding with brandy sauce I’ve ever had! The recipe came from a restaurant at the Jersey shore, Cousin’s Restaurant in Ocean City. As the owners were getting ready to retire, they published a cookbook of all of their best recipes. I rarely buy cookbooks, but this is one of the best I’ve found: Cousin’s Cookbook: Recipes for Food, Family, Friends, and Faith. It’s an excellent addition to any cookbook collection, with Italian recipes, including how they made their marinara sauce and their clams & spaghetti. The dessert section is wonderful, too!
What is Bread Pudding?
Bread Pudding is an easy dessert to make. The ingredients you’ll need are likely already in your kitchen.
What Are the Ingredients?
The bread pudding with brandy sauce recipe that I use includes white bread, milk, eggs, sugar, raisins (which are optional), and pure vanilla extract—that’s all you need to make this incredibly delicious dessert!
What Is The Sauce Made Of?
We top ours with a sweet brandy sauce that consists of butter, confectioner’s sugar, and brandy.
Is This Difficult to Make?
No! This is an easy dessert that always delights guests. Everyone is surprised when they find out it’s easy to make!
How Long Does it Take to Make Bread Pudding?
Including the preparation time of 15 minutes and the cooking time of 1 hour, this dessert will be ready to serve in 1 hour, 15 minutes.
How Do You Know When Bread Pudding is Fully Cooked?
You can tell if the pudding is cooked by sticking a knife, skewer, or toothpick into the middle. If it comes out clean, it’s cooked.
Can You Make This Before the Holiday?
There’s the question of the day! You can put the bread pudding ingredients into a casserole dish and then refrigerate it until you are ready to make it the next day (I’ve done this). Another option is to make this a day or two before the holiday and keep it in your refrigerator until you’re ready to serve it. We usually reheat pieces as we enjoy them.
Can You Refrigerate Bread Pudding?
You can store your bread pudding covered in the refrigerator for several days. We do this if there are leftovers, but when we have guests over, most want to take a piece home to enjoy later!
Can You Freeze It?
You can freeze a cooked bread pudding dessert for several months! When you want to thaw it out to use it, just place it in your refrigerator a day before you’ll be enjoying it.
Where Did Bread Pudding Come From?
Many countries serve different varieties of bread pudding, but according to Wikipedia, bread pudding was originally from England. English cooks in the 11th century found a use for their stale bread, and some called it Poor Man’s Pudding as a result! They discuss regional variations in different countries: Canada includes maple syrup, Hong Kong uses a vanilla cream sauce on top, Germany serves a black bread pudding, and in the Philippines, there is a bright red filling. In the US, it’s commonly served in Louisiana with a sweet sauce with some type of liquor, possibly including whiskey or rum.
Here’s our Easy Bread Pudding with Brandy Sauce Recipe!
Bread Pudding with Brandy Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Bread Pudding:
- 16 ounces white bread cubed
- 4 cups milk
- 3 eggs large
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup raisins seedless, optional
- 4 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Ingredients for the Brandy Sauce:
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 1/2 cup brandy less if you prefer – we use 1/4 cup
Instructions
Bread Pudding Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Pour the milk over the cubed bread. Let it soak for 5 minutes.
- Beat the eggs. Mix in the sugar and the vanilla. Pour the mixture over the bread and stir. Add in the raisins and stir.
- Pour the bread mixture into a 13×9 Pyrex (or similar) baking dish.
- Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.
- Near the end of the baking, make the brandy sauce (directions follow).
- Top with the brandy sauce while the pudding is hot.
Brandy Sauce Directions:
- Beat the butter and blend in the confectioners sugar.
- Add in the brandy slowly until the mixture is the consistency of a thick paste.
- Use the sauce to top the hot bread pudding – it will melt as it is spread on top.
Nutrition
This recipe has been a crowd-pleaser every time I’ve made it! Need the ingredients? Here’s an Instacart link to make shopping simple. Select the ingredients you need from the list that appears, and add any other groceries you need. You can pick up your order at the grocery store or have it delivered.
If you’re looking for other recipe ideas, here are a few good ones!
- Piped Butter Cookies (an easy-to-make Christmas classic treat)
- Instant Pot Stuffed Pepper Soup (true comfort food)
- Chicken Noodle Soup (it’s not just for when you’re sick!)
- Crockpot Chicken Creole (a great recipe for when the weather is cooler)
- Crockpot Cuban Pork Roast (perfect for pulled pork tacos)
- Beef & Guinness Stew: Instant Pot, Crockpot, and Stovetop recipe versions
Whatever you might need for soup, Amazon probably has it, from soup bowls to soup spoons to soup ladles for serving. Check out today’s deals in the kitchen – they change frequently, so be sure to check back.
An easy holiday dessert recipe that everyone loves!