Bread Pudding with Pecan Praline Sauce

Run, do not walk, to your kitchen and make this recipe IMMEDIATELY. If you are a fan of bread pudding, this recipe will throw you over the edge of insanity with its deliciousness...if you don't really like bread pudding, make it anyway. You will change your mind!

I first tasted this recipe at Famous Dave's BBQ. Once I went searching on the internet, I found this recipe circulating. It came directly from Famous Dave's website and I did not change it - it really didn't need changing at all.

The pecan-praline sauce is AMAZING. Truly. One big note about the recipe, though, is that is says "makes about 4 cups." I don't know what kind of "cups" Ol' Famous Dave uses, but when I made it, it was about 12 cups. But, I didn't mind one bit. I've since used the sauce over vanilla ice cream and over french toast and gone into a praline coma. Feel free to do the same!



Bread Pudding
1 (1 1/2-pound) loaf cinnamon egg bread (*See Note Below!)
2/3 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup vanilla extract
8 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Spray the bottom and sides of a 13X9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Tear the bread into 1-inch pieces. Mix with the raisins in a bowl. Spread the bread mixture evenly in the prepared dish, turning crust side down as this tends to burn easily. Whisk the sugar, milk, 2 cups whipping cream, vanilla, eggs and cinnamon in a bowl until blended. Pour over the bread mixture.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the baking dish in a 4-inch deep baking pan. Add water to reach halfway up sides of the baking dish. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from water bath. Let stand for 20 minutes. Serve while still warm. Drizzle each serving with warm Ol’ Southern Plantation Praline Sauce (recipe below). Top with whipped cream and add a scoop of ice cream if desired.

Yield: 9 enormous servings

*Try as I might, but I could not find "cinnamon egg bread." Instead, I used a loaf of Challah bread with raisins that I found at my local grocery store. Then I just added a little more cinnamon to the mix. Hope this helps!

Pecan-Praline Sauce
2 cups unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3 pounds light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat 1 cup of the butter in a large saucepan until melted. Add the pecans and mix well. Bring to a boil. Cook until the pecans begin to change color. Be careful! This mixture will foam over, so use a large saucepan.

Add the remaining 1 cup butter and mix well. This will cool the pecan mixture and stop the cooking process. Remove from heat.

Combine brown sugar, whipping cream and cinnamon in a saucepan and mix well. Cook over low heat until blended, stirring constantly; increase heat. Cook to 230 degrees on a candy thermometer. Stir in pecan mixture. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix well. Remove from heat. Yield: 4 cups (not really, see note above!)