Double Blueberry Bagel Pudding

First things first, I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I know my loyal blog follower (note: followeR. singular...I'm working on it...) waits daily with bated breath for me to update. So I apologize I just better get a good comment for this one!) Secondly, I know that to the untrained eye, the recipe I'm about to show you looks very similar to the one in my last post. Again, I apologize. I went through a blueberry phase. I promise I will mix it up again from now on. 


A few weeks ago, Hubs and I went up to Vermont to visit his parents. We had a big dinner with them and ended up with quite a few leftovers. Included in those leftovers was a bag of dinner rolls. A great, big bag of dinner rolls. These were just your everyday run of the mill white bread dinner rolls. Quite frankly: blah. There was no way the two of us would even make a dent in this bag of rolls. So Hubs suggested that I wait a few days until they got stale and then make a bread pudding from them. 


Now, here is where the dessert upbringing between me and Hubs differs.


You see, I grew up in a family of bakers. Both of my grandmothers and my mom were more bakers than chefs. They could cook well enough to put dinner on the table for their families every night of course. But their specialties lied in baking. Because of this, by the time I was a teenager, I could easily whip up and beautifully decorate a from scratch cake and could bake up a batch of chocolate chip cookies without even needing the recipe in front of me. Desserts in my family consisted of "baked goods" (cookies, cakes, pies, brownies...things like that.)


Hubs' parents are more on the "chef" side of the culinary realm. His dad went to culinary school and is quite the "fancy" cook. As a child, instead of chicken nuggets and hot dogs, a normal meal to Hubs might consist of foie gra, beef wellington, escargot, or chicken marsala. Because of this, I may or may not be known to sometimes call him a food snob. The desserts Hubs grew up with seem to be more of the types of desserts that a fancy chef might produce: creme brulee, tiramisu, cheesecake, and mousse. Very custardy type things. 


So when Hubs suggested that I make a bread pudding with the rolls, my first thought was: ew. You see, my mom doesn't like anything that is custard-like. Therefore, while learning how to bake growing up, I always believed that custards were evil. 


However, one of the things I love about Hubs is that, throughout the past few years we've been together, he has pushed me to try a lot of new things. Because of him, I'd say there are probably about 30 new foods that I now like. So I trusted him with this bread pudding idea. 


The idea of a plain bread pudding sounded a little boring to me. So I found a recipe for a blueberry bread pudding. "PERFECT!" I thought. I had two pints of blueberries sitting in the fridge just waiting to be covered in butter and sugar!


I got everything ready to make my bread pudding. I preheated the oven and buttered my baking dish. 

It was time to start the recipe. I grabbed the bag of rolls that had been waiting for me all week, ready to rip them up into small pieces when I saw it. Mold. Lots of green, furry mold. CRAP. What do I do? At this point most people would just say forget about it. Not me. I was committed. I used the moldy rolls.

Just kidding. That's gross. 

I WAS committed to making this bread pudding though. I threw out the wasted bag of rolls. "What can I use instead?" I thought. "I have some wheat sandwich bread. That would work. No...too healthy. hmmm let's see what else we have...." Thats when I saw them. Sitting in the fridge just waiting to be used for something unconventional. A bag of Thomas' Blueberry Bagels. "Hmmmm...these could work. I AM making a blueberry bread pudding. These would just make it extra blueberry." Done.

I ripped up those blueberry bagels and put them in a mixing bowl, just like I was planning on doing with the rolls... 

...and I continued on with the recipe. I mixed together some milk and vanilla and poured it over the bagel pieces. Next, I added some sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom, mixed it all up and let the whole mixture soak together for about 10 minutes. 

While the mixture is sitting, I beat four eggs together until frothy. 

they are not quite frothy here

When the mixture was totally saturated, I folded in the eggs and the blueberries. Then I poured everything into my baking dish.

and oh yeah, I sprinkled a few tablespoons of sugar over the top for good measure

I baked it for about 40 minutes until it puffed up. 

like this

I have to say, it didn't come out too bad. Custard desserts still aren't my favorite, but they're growing on me. Hubs liked it even more than I did. Although I have to say, when a dessert merits being eaten for breakfast (what?! it has bagels and fruit in it!) It has to be somewhat good!

shout-out to my favorite cookbook! yes, that does say "all butter, fresh cream, sugar packed." so?

Double Blueberry Bagel Pudding

adapted from Cooks.com Blueberry Bread Pudding

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 bag of blueberry bagels. (or you can substitute with any kind of stale bread you have)
3 c. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla
3/4 c. plus 2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 pt. blueberries
4 lg. eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. place the butter in a 9-inch square 2-inch deep baking dish. Place in oven long enough to melt butter. Remove dish from oven and brush melted butter on sides of dish. Tear the bread into 1-inch pieces and place in a large bowl.Mix the milk and vanilla together; pour over the bread. Toss, then mix in 3/4 cup sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Allow to soak about 10 minutes until the milk has been absorbed.
Rinse blueberries. Beat the eggs until frothy and fold into bread mixture. Fold in blueberries. Spoon mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining sugar. Place in the oven and bake 45 minutes, until the pudding is puffed and browned. Serve while still warm with ice cream, whipped cream or lemon sauce. Yield: 8 servings.