Bread pudding for brunch

After perusing a cookbook about crockpot spoon breads and desserts a couple weeks ago, I thought it might be yummy to have cinnamon bread pudding for breakfast on a day with no plans. That day was today, and the no plans thing turned out to be a good thing.

I originally found the recipe in a cookbook I got for free on my kindle. While searching Pinterest for other breakfast bread pudding possibilities, I found the exact same recipe on the mrfood.com sight, although it was called cinnamon raisin bread pudding. That was the only difference. All the ingredients were the same. I am a little disappointed in my free cookbook :( Plagiarism is not ok. I put a lot of recipes I find other places on here, but I do my best to somehow credit the source (my linky skills are lacking, but I do try).

So, to get back to Mr. Food. I remember watching Mr. Food on my local ABC news when I was growing up. I also have a favorite (tho not often remembered) soup recipe that I know I got from him. I searched for it on the site just to make sure. But back to bread pudding. Instead of a cinnamon raisin bread, I used a yummy cinnamon swirl bread from my local grocery store bakery. It has lots of thin layers bursting with sweet cinnamony goodness. I used about 3/4 of the loaf, as the recipe calls for a one pound loaf, and the one I bought was 1.3 pounds. Mostly, I cut it into thick slices which i weighed to find a pound, then into cubes (sort of...it tried falling apart). I then put as many into my crockpot as would fit, which ended up being just shy of a pound (14.5 ounces) as my crockpot was 2.5qt rather than the 4qt called for. I don't know if that contributed to my other problem or not.

The recipe said to cook on low for 2 hours, or until the center was set. Well, at the end of two hours, when I pulled the edges in, there was still a bunch of juicy custard liquid. So I put the lid back on and turned it up to high for 30 minutes. When I went back it was all nice and puffed up, and not juicy. Then it was to cool for 30 minutes out of the base. While serving, I found some nearly burnt parts around the bottom edge. Possibly from the 30 minutes on high.

But over all, it was very tasty, even if later than planned. It was almost too sweet for me, tho. Not sure if I may try leaving all or some of the brown sugar out if I make it again, as the bread was very sweet itself. And if I had done it the way I had intended, I would have had all the bread cut up the night before, so all I had to do was assemble it this morning. That also added to the lateness of breakfast.

Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Bread Pudding in the Crock Pot

3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream (I used 2 cups whole milk instead of milk and cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 (1-pound) cinnamon-raisin bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I omitted these)
Sweetened whipped cream (optional)

Whisk together first 3 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in milk and next 3 ingredients. Add bread cubes, stirring until moistened. Stir in butterscotch chips and pecans. Pour into a lightly greased 4-quart round slow cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW setting 2 hours or until center is set. Carefully remove slow cooker insert from heat element. Let stand, covered, 30 minutes. Serve pudding warm with whipped cream, if desired.

Source: mrfood.com