Burbon "Paska" bread pudding
BOURBON BREAD PUDDING
The original recipe started with French bread but I’ve modified it and used Ukrainian Easter paska. It’s torn, soaked in a bourbon-spiked custard with bourbon-soaked raisins, and baked. The recipe calls for ¾ cups of bourbon which makes for a very boozy dessert. You can easily cut it back to ½ cup and still get a nice bourbon flavor.
The original recipe called for a bourbon cream sauce, but I recommend serving it with your favorite vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or you can drizzle it with sweetened cream..
I baked them in tulip cupcake liners for easier single servings. This is a very rich dessert and it’s easy to be “over served”.
INGREDIENTS:
10 cups of paska’s torn into 1 inch pieces. I used a 5” and a 4” diameter paska to get to 10 cups
1 cup raisins
¾ cup bourbon (divided) or ½ for a more subtle taste
8 egg yolks
1½ cups light brown sugar
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
TOPPING
1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (cubed and chilled)
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Arrange the paska in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake until crisp and brown, about 12 minutes, turning pieces over halfway through and rotating the baking sheet front to back. Let bread cool. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.
Meanwhile, heat raisins and ½ cup bourbon in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until bourbon begins to simmer, 2 to 3 minutes. Strain the mixture, placing the bourbon and raisins in separate bowls.
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, brown sugar, cream, milk, vanilla, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk in the bourbon used to plump the raisins. If you plan on using the original recipe you can add the remaining ¼ of bourbon. Toss in the toasted bread until evenly coated. Let the mixture sit until the paska begins to absorb custard, about 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.
You can either use a single 9x13 baking dish, or 12-15 cupcakes. I used tulip cupcake liners which are higher than regular liners.
Pour half the bread mixture into the prepared baking dish or cupcake liners, and sprinkle with half the raisins. Repeat with the remaining bread mixture and raisins. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 45 minutes.
Turn the dish around half way through to make sure it’s cooked evenly.
Meanwhile, mix the granulated sugar and remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Using your fingers, pinch 6 tablespoons of cold butter into the sugar mixture until the crumbs are the size of small peas. Remove the foil from pudding, sprinkle with the butter mixture, and bake, uncovered, until the custard is just set, 20 to 25 minutes. For cupcakes, bake uncovered for only 5-7 minutes.
Increase the oven temperature to 450 degrees F and bake until the top of the pudding forms a golden crust, about 2 minutes.
Let the pudding cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes (or up to 2 hours).
If you don’t like raisins, they can be omitted or substituted with another dried fruit, like cranberries or cherries. You can change out the bourbon for another whiskey or liquor, and you can easily change the quantity from ¾ to ½ cup. If you’d like to omit the alcohol you can substitute that quantity in the recipe with cream and adjust the quantity of vanilla to 2 teaspoons.
To freeze, cover the pan tightly with foil and freeze for up to 3 months. For cupcakes, place in a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat in a 350-degree oven, covered, until warmed through, about 15 minutes.