Brioche Bread Pudding

Photo: flickr user thebittenword.com

Ingredients

1 brioche or egg bread loaf - (16 oz) crusts trimmed

and reserved, bread cut into 1/2" cubes

8 lrg eggs

2 cups whipping cream

2 cups whole milk

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup Frangelico, hazelnut liqueur

(or amaretto)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preparation

Place bread cubes in 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan. Whisk eggs, whipping cream, milk, sugar, Frangelico, vanilla extract and almond extract in large bowl to blend. Pour over bread cubes. Let stand 30 minutes, occasionally pressing bread into custard mixture. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange reserved bread crusts on baking sheet and bake until dry, about 10 minutes. Cool. Maintain oven temperature. Transfer crusts to food processor and grind until fine crumbs form. Sprinkle 1 cup crust crumbs over top of pudding. Bake until pudding is set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm.

This recipe yields 8 to 10 servings.