Coconut Bread Pudding

Bread pudding used to be referred to as poor man's pudding. I remember my Mom making this pudding as a way of salvaging stale bread, nothing was wasted. And since milk and eggs were plentiful on the farm this dessert could be made with little cost. When I made this bread pudding I sure wasn't thinking that it tasted like a 'poor man's pudding' but rather it had a wonderfully rich flavour and the sauce just put it over the top. Mom didn't make a sauce and we ate the pudding plain. This is a large recipe but can easily be halved.

• 12 slices bread, thickly sliced (diced and crust can be left on or off, your choice) this can be stale or fresh  I used pannetone bread and left the crust on
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup sugar  if using a sweetened bread you could use 1/2 cup sugar
• 9 eggs
• 3/4 cup coconut
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream or increase milk and decrease cream as long as you have 3 cups
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Dice bread and set aside.
2. Using a large bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cream, melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and coconut. Beat until well blended.
3. Add diced bread and mix with a spoon until all the bread is covered in the liquid. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap and allow bread to absorb the liquid for 1 hour. Give the mixture a stir once in awhile.
4. Put bread mixture into a greased 9" x 12" pan or individual baking dishes.
5. Bake in a 350º oven for 45 to 50 minutes.
Allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with ice cream or Bailey's Irish Cream Sauce:

• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon water

1. Heat whipping cream till scalding, not boiling. Continue to stir so it doesn't burn. I heated the cream in the microwave and didn't stir at all while it heated.
2. In small bowl whisk egg yolks, sugar and Bailey's. Add a little scalded milk to the bowl to bring up the temperature of the yolks.
3. Add yolk mixture to scalded milk slowly, whisking the whole time.
4. Place bowl back in microwave and cook for a few min stirring a 2 or 3 times.
5. Add cornstarch and water mixture and cook for a few more minutes until sauce thickens, stirring a few times in between.
6. Pour into a pitcher and serve hot with warm bread pudding. This is a very smooth sauce and can be reheated, but with a few reheats it changes texture a bit although it still tastes just as good!!
In this photo the sauce had been reheated and it doesn't look as creamy as it does when first cooked.