Bread Pudding with St. Cecilia Sauce
I love recipes that are about turning unwanted or past-their-prime ingredients into something delicious, and bread pudding is a great example. This recipe is a great way to upcycle extra rolls (if only Thanksgiving came a week earlier!) or stale breads of any kind. I can’t find any indication of why this is called Saint Cecilia sauce or where the recipe comes from, but it does show up in quite a few vintage cookbooks, and is SOOOOO tasty. If you are concerned about raw eggs, you can substitute whipped cream for the Saint Cecilia sauce, and make the bread pudding with three whole eggs instead.
Ingredients
- For the Pudding:
- 2 cups milk
- 2 tablespoons 1/4 stick unsalted butter, + more for greasing pan
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 12-ounce package Hawaiian rolls (or any leftover breads) cut into 2-inch cubes (about 5 to 6 cups)
- 1 egg + 3 egg whites beaten
- ½ cup raisins
- For the Sauce:
- 3 egg yolks
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. In a small saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave for a minute and a half), warm the milk, butter, vanilla, sugar, and salt just until the butter melts and the sugar is dissolved. Cool to 105° F - 110° F. Meanwhile, butter a 4-to-6-cup baking dish and fill it with the cubed bread. Add the egg and whites to the cooled milk mixture and whisk. Add the raisins. Pour the mixture over the bread. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the custard is set but still a little wobbly and the edges of the bread have browned.
- While the pudding is cooking, prepare the sauce. In a mixer (or by hand if you want to go old school), beat the egg yolks and sugar until well combined. In a separate bowl, whip the cream with the vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Fold the egg mixture into the whipped cream.
- To serve, top each serving of warm bread pudding with a spoonful of Saint Cecilia Sauce.