Brendan's Bread Pudding with Brown Butter Sticky Rum Sauce

By norsegal8

My eldest son loves to make this bread pudding, so I named it for him. It's best straight from the oven, so I mix the pudding ahead and cook it just before you serve it. Because all stale French breads aren't created equal, you might need to add more milk, as dry bread keeps absorbing liquid.

Ingredients

• FOR THE BREAD PUDDING:
• 4 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 11 eggs, beaten
• 4 cups stale French bread, in small cubes
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• FOR THE SAUCE:
• 8 tabespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup dark rum
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• FOR THE CANDIED ALMONDS:
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preparation

Step 1

1. For the bread pudding, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, orange zest, and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in the bread cubes amd soak them for 30 minutes. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and pour the mixture into it. Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.

2. For the sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over moderate heat, until it turns a light brown color, with a rich, hazelnut aroma, about 5 minutes. Add the corn syrup, sugar, rum, cream, salt and vanilla. Reduce the sauce until it thickens snough to coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat.

3. For the candied almonds, mix the almonds, egg white and sugar together in a bowl. Spread the almonds on a cookie sheet and bake in a 350-degree oven until golden brown, 15 - 18 minutes. Stir the nuts every 4 to 5 minutes to ensure that they bake evenly.

4. To serve, scoop a large spoonful of warm bread pudding onto each of 10 plates. Pour the buttered rum sauce over the puddings and scatter the almonds over the top.