Rum Bread Pudding
Rum Bread Pudding With Boozy Fruit and Rum Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup sliced dried apricots
- 1 cup chopped dried plums or figs
- 1 cup Flor de Caña rum
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 6 large eggs
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Several pinches ground cloves
- Several pinches freshly ground nutmeg
- Several grinds of black peppercorns
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 14-16 cups of large cubes of bread, about a 2-pound loaf (I like to use half challah and half dense country white boule or loaf)
The Sauce
- 1 cup Flor de Caña rum
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
The day before, take your dried fruit and place in a 1-quart ziploc bag. Pour in the cup of rum and squeeze out excess air. Let sit for 24 hours.
Drain any excess rum not absorbed by the fruit, and reserve the rum.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9×13 baking dish.
Whisk together half-and-half, milk, cream, both sugars, eggs, melted butter, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ground pepper, vanilla, and sea salt in a large bowl. Add bread and the plumped dried fruit. Stir to combine. Let stand 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to your buttered baking dish. Bake until golden and set, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, make the rum sauce. Combine the rum (if you have any leftovers from the plumping process start with that), brown sugar, butter and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until viscous, about 12-14 minutes. Stir in the cream and vanilla, and simmer for about a minute. Drizzle some of the sauce over the bread pudding.
Serve with the remaining sauce at the table.
