Sometimes I wish that I could bend the truth.

Buuuuuutttt I can’t.

I have THE most guilty conscience.

I want to tell you how this was soooo easy and how it was the most delicious thing ever.

But I made this for a family dinner on Friday, and it was a flop.

I was very distracted. This dish needs your complete attention.

I burnt the first batch of Whiskey caramel sauce and the bottom of the bread pudding was more like scrambled eggs.

Gag.

Literally.

Mikey did.

I called my mom after this failure and she made me feel WAY better. She said that it was because I used an electric stove/oven, which I am not used to. I should have used way lower temps and I should not have put the pan in water to bake.

Thanks mom. You are the best.

I will tell you this, I am DEFINITELY going to make this again. It would have been soooo good. The top was crunchy and super delicious. But the scrambled bottom made the whole thing a nightmare.

Everyone was very sweet and encouraging, but my ego was crushed. I knew it was bad.

I am a failure.

I am surprised that I was so confident in using a different kitchen/trying something new and semi-difficult.

So considering that, plus the distraction of my niece and in laws…

I don’t know what I was thinking.

I will make this again soon for two reasons:

1. Because I have to prove that I can do this.

2. Because it is SOOOO good!

Here we go.

Buy some bread, cube it up, bake it til’ it’s crusty.

Then bring milk, cream, vanilla bean and sugar to a simmer.

Chop up some white chocolate

Put the crusty bread into the pan and stir in some melted butter and the choc. chip pieces.

This is your simmered milk mixture.

Beat 8 eggs and slowly stir in the hot cream mixture, forming a custard.

Pour it over the bread. 

I placed it into a pan with 1 inch of water, but would not do it again. I would just watch the bottom to make sure it does not get too brown. 

This very crispy top was deceiving. The bottom was not done.

Time for some Whiskey Caramel Sauce.

Sugar

Corn Syrup

Add water and boil.

In a separate pan, heat butter, cream and salt

Whiskey!!! Whiskey that my brother-in-law and I drank after the first batch burnt.

Flambé that whiskey!

(I used to flambe when I worked at the Melting Pot…but I made the bro-in-law do this. It was a lot of whiskey and I was afraid for my arm hair/skin).

Sorry I have no pictures of the fire…

Beautiful, delicious, caramel!

This is amazing with anything. Ice cream, brownie sunday, on a giant spoon, or with some caramelized bananas. Oh, hey bananas foster.

Recipe: White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bread Pudding 

Ingredients:

1 loaf Brioche or Italian bread.

4 ounces butter, melted

16 ounces white chocolate, chunked

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

2/3 cups sugar

1 vanilla bean, split

8 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275°F. Arrange bread cubes on baking sheet. Bake until light golden and dry, about 10 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to rack; cool completely. Increase oven temperature to 350°F.

Place dried bread in a 2 quart baking dish. Drizzle with melted butter. Toss white chocolate with bread cubes.

Combine milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla bean and bring to a boil over medium heat until sugar is disolved. Whisk eggs until smooth. Add hot milk mixture to eggs slowly, stirring contsantly. Do not wisk or custard will have a great deal of foam on the surface. Skim foam from custard. Strain custard over bread and chocolate. Let stand for 10 minutes to allow custard to soak into bread.

Place baking dish in another larger pan. Pour hot water into larger dish to reach 1 inch up side of dish. (Depending on your oven, do what you are most comfortable with. I would recommend not using a pan with water).

Bake the bread pudding for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, until custard is set and bread is golden.

Recipe: Whiskey Caramel Sauce

1/3 cup whiskey

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon corn syrup

1 3/4 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: 

In a small saute pan, pour the whiskey and place the pan over medium-high heat. Gently and carefully tilt the pan over the flame to flambé the alcohol (or use a lighter and lightning fast speed). Immediately remove from heat and let the flame continue to burn; the flame will self-extinguish when the alcohol is burned out of the whiskey. Set the whiskey aside.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup, stirring until the sugar has the consistency of wet sand. Place the saucepan over high heat and cook until the sugar dissolves and begins to boil. Do not stir the sugar, as this may cause it to seize.

While the sugar is cooking, combine the cream, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Keep an eye on the sugar while you’re heating the cream to keep it from scorching. Cook until the butter melts, stirring it into the cream. When the mixture has come to a simmer, remove from heat.

Continue to cook the sugar until it darkens to a rich caramel color, 7 to 10 minutes — the sugar will darken quickly and noticeably and will smell faintly nutty. Swirl the pan as the sugar darkens to judge the true color of the caramel. Watch carefully as the sugar can easily overcook at this point and burn. (This is where I was not paying attention and burnt my sauce).

As soon as the color is a rich caramel, immediately remove the pan from the heat and quickly add the cream mixture in a slow, steady stream. The sugar will bubble and steam as the cream is added; be careful as both the mixture and steam are very hot. Carefully stir in the whiskey and vanilla.

Stir the caramel until it stops bubbling, then remove to a heat-proof container until needed. This makes about 2 1/2 cups sauce.

When the pudding is baked, spoon generous helpings into warm bowls. Drizzle the whiskey caramel sauce over it and serve.