Caramelized Apple Bread Pudding

I went home after my trip to the US, and my mom told me to do something with a bag of sliced bread that was sitting around. She feared that it would start molding in the near future. My dad then chipped in, saying a bunch of apples were sitting around. When there is dried bread or a lot of bread to use up, my only thought is something along the lines of a bread pudding.

Therefore, I made a thin custard with soy milk, sugar, some vanilla, and corn starch. Since the bread wasn't dried, I cut it up and dried it in a toaster oven. After that, I poured the custard on top of the bread and let it sit. In the meantime, I started working on a basic caramel.

From past experiments with caramel, I feared it would not turn out so well. I generally have a hard time with caramel. Yet for once, this one turned out beautifully. I did burn my finger when I accidentally touched it while it was in the pan (be careful, caramel is extremely hot!) After taking care of my burn, I poured it all into the bottom of a greased loaf pan. Then I cut some thin apple wedges and laid them on top of the hardened caramel.

I then poured about 1/3 of the bread mix, sprinkled some diced apples, and repeated until I reached the top. There was a bit of custard liquid and a end slice of bread left, so I layered that on the very top. The whole thing was baked until browned.

My parents didn't get home until late, so I left the whole bread pudding in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I plated it onto the biggest, long plate I could find, and still it could barely fit! I think overall it was a bit soft. Next time, I probably would add less custard to the bread. It most probably also would benefit from even more apples throughout the middle.

Apple Cake Pudding

When I made the white mud cake for the Christmas Tree cake, I had to remove the thick, heavy crust to use the soft center to obtain a truffle-like mix. I was not too sure what to do with the crust. I tried pulsing some in a blender to see if I could turn it into cake pops of some kind, but they turned more into dust than into crumbs.

Then I remembered the bread pudding I made last October, and thought I could make something similar to deal with these somewhat dry, leftover cake bits. I used some pudding mix (another one that was sitting in a cupboard, which had sugar already mixed in so I could not adjust sugar content as I wished), and threw in cake pieces that I broke off. As the cake is sweeter than the dried bread used in the bread pudding, I needed to offset the sugar a bit. Luckily, we had some somewhat tart apples laying around, so I diced those, and used a few for topping. The whole thing was baked. For something quickly put together to use up leftovers, it got quite a decent reception.

Bread Pudding Topped with Caramelized Pears

For a last dinner among friends before the fall break, I opted for a dessert that not only reminds you of fall, but also used up the pears sitting in my fruits basket.

I adapted the recipe from Delish, but instead of making the pudding myself, I used a pudding packet from the supermarket. The procedure itself was fairly simple.

First, I cut some dried bread into cubes, and made the pudding according to the instructions in the packet. I mixed bread, pudding, some raisins, and cinnamon and nutmeg together and let that rest in a mixing bowl a bit.

Then I caramelized the pears (a task made difficult by the overly soft pears), then laid them out at the bottom of a large springform pan. I poured in the bread pudding mix, and baked the whole thing for 45 minutes. After that, I flipped it onto a plate, so that the caramelized pears were on top~

It was a little sweet out of the oven, but after a night sitting out on the counter, it was perfectly fine.