Strawberry Bread Pudding Recipe

I feel fairly confident when I say this was the best bread pudding I’ve ever made. I wanted to make a very specific one that felt light after how cold the temperatures had been last week.

In my mind the season for heavy, spice filled desserts had passed. Pumpkin spice season starts in august and blends into gingerbread season, and by January it is time for a flavor cleanse. For many it is time for citrus, and I fully agree, but for me, after the past year at the farm, I wanted something that felt like spring.

Bread pudding is probably my signature dish. I grew up hearing stories of my great grandmother making bread pudding in my kitchen and this in a way connects me to her.

I knew we were launching a new strawberry jam label and I was trying to think of a way to work our strawberry jam into a dessert recipe to serve at one of our luncheons. I asked Christie if she’d ever had strawberry jam in a bread pudding and we quickly workshopped this recipe to life.

The key to this keeping its fresh light flavor and feel is not cooking the strawberry jam. I whipped it with softened cream cheese to create a topping for the bread pudding rather than folding it into the baked mixture like I do with apple butter in the fall.

In October Laurie had been on a brioche kick and I ended up with a loaf in the freezer. I typically have my freezer full of frozen Amish Friendship Bread, but for this recipe I wanted to use her brioche.

A couple of years ago someone recommended that I use sweetened condensed milk in my bread pudding and it has been a game changer, for this recipe though I went one step further and used dulce de leche for the base.

THE RECIPE

1 Loaf Brioche or other bread. (Whole Foods makes an amazing brioche)

1 can dulce de leche

1 cup whole milk

4 eggs

1 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons quality vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped candied pecans

Mix together all ingredients, excluding the bread in a large mixing bowl. Cube bread into rough one inch cubes. You can use any bread, but I prefer one with a bit of sweetness. Amish Friendship Bread, Brioche, or even a sourdough work perfectly. Add cubed bread to the wet mixture and stir to coat a decent amount of the bread. Pour into a well greased baking sheet. A 9x9 or 10 inch round pan work well.

Cover with foil (to prevent the top from burning) and bake in a 350 degree oven for forty minutes to one hour or until the wet mixture has sat.

Top with your favorite whipped cream and the strawberry cream cheese mixture. For this recipe I whipped one of our half pint strawberry jams with a softened block of cream cheese and whipped in a stand mixer until fluffy. Serve warm or cold. Keeps well for two to three days, but is usually eaten long before that.

Our strawberry jam is grown here in our county and is made using the freshest berries possible. All grown on a local farm the old fashioned way. If you are using a store bought jam for this recipe use the very best you can find.