1925 Bread Pudding

     I was looking in my vintage cookbooks the other day and one that I haven't spent much time with is "A Calendar of Dinners" a Crisco sponsored cookbook from 1925.  It has dinner menu plans for an entire year with recipes to go along with most of the items on the various menus.  As I was paging through I found this recipe, now I've always been a fan of bread pudding but I rarely make it as a loaf of bread doesn't last in my house.  This one intrigued me though for 2 reasons, first, I had all the ingredients on hand.  It's a rare day that I find a recipe where I don't have to hunt for some ingredient.
     The second reason is because of the ingredients.  It reminded me more of a Christmas dessert with the candied fruits and the steaming to cook it.  Yes, here's the rub, this isn't a quick recipe it involves steaming like a Christmas pudding which takes quite some time.  If you decide to undertake this recipe though you will have quite a unique dessert to serve at your table.  I topped mine with some freshly whipped cream and it was very good with the flavor being very reminiscent of a fruitcake.

     For the ingredients you will need some candied peel which is easy to find at this time of year.  I have a bunch in my pantry that I bought at half price after the holidays and since it's soaked in sugar syrup it keeps for a year or so.

1925 Bread Pudding

4C diced day old bread
3T Raisins
2T Chopped Candied Fruit & Peel
3T Brown Sugar
1T Butter, melted
2 Eggs, beaten
Grated Rind of a Lemon
1/2 Lemon, juiced
1C Whole Milk
4T White Sugar

     In a bowl combine the bread, raisins, candied fruit, brown sugar, lemon rind and butter.  In a dry saucepan over med-low heat place white sugar and melt, stirring occasionally until it's a med brown color, do not allow to burn!  Quickly add the milk and stir with a whisk to combine the sugar being sure to get all the bits off the bottom.  Remove from heat before the milk can boil and pour over bread mixture.  In a bowl beat eggs with lemon juice until light and add to bread mixture, fold everything together until blended. Preheat oven to 325° and allow pudding to stand 30 mins for ingredients to blend.  Grease a bowl that will fit the mixture with butter and pour in pudding pressing down slightly.  Cover top of pudding with a piece of greased parchment paper and place in a baking pan.  Pour boiling water into pan so it comes halfway up the side of the pudding mold, place in oven and steam 2 hours.  Unmold onto serving plate and serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

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