1925 Bread Pudding

     I was looking in my vintage cookbooks the other day and one that I haven't spent much time with is "A Calendar of Dinners" a Crisco sponsored cookbook from 1925.  It has dinner menu plans for an entire year with recipes to go along with most of the items on the various menus.  As I was paging through I found this recipe, now I've always been a fan of bread pudding but I rarely make it as a loaf of bread doesn't last in my house.  This one intrigued me though for 2 reasons, first, I had all the ingredients on hand.  It's a rare day that I find a recipe where I don't have to hunt for some ingredient.
     The second reason is because of the ingredients.  It reminded me more of a Christmas dessert with the candied fruits and the steaming to cook it.  Yes, here's the rub, this isn't a quick recipe it involves steaming like a Christmas pudding which takes quite some time.  If you decide to undertake this recipe though you will have quite a unique dessert to serve at your table.  I topped mine with some freshly whipped cream and it was very good with the flavor being very reminiscent of a fruitcake.

     For the ingredients you will need some candied peel which is easy to find at this time of year.  I have a bunch in my pantry that I bought at half price after the holidays and since it's soaked in sugar syrup it keeps forever so ignore the sell by date.

1925 Bread Pudding

4C diced day old bread
3T Raisins
2T Chopped Candied Fruit & Peel
3T Brown Sugar
1T Butter, melted
2 Eggs, beaten
Grated Rind of a Lemon
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1C Whole Milk
4T White Sugar

     In a bowl combine the bread, raisins, candied fruit, brown sugar, lemon rind and butter.  In a dry saucepan over med-low heat place white sugar and melt, stirring occasionally until it's a med brown color, do not allow to burn!  Quickly add the milk and stir with a whisk to combine the sugar being sure to get all the bits off the bottom.  Remove from heat before the milk can boil and pour over bread mixture.  In a bowl beat eggs with lemon juice until light and add to bread mixture, fold everything together until blended. Preheat oven to 325° and allow pudding to stand 30 mins for ingredients to blend.  Grease a bowl that will fit the mixture with butter and pour in pudding pressing down slightly.  Cover top of pudding with a piece of greased parchment paper and place in a baking pan.  Pour boiling water into pan so it comes halfway up the side of the pudding mold, place in oven and steam 2 hours.  Unmold onto serving plate and serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

Share this post