Turn any slightly stale bread into delicious and easy bread pudding muffins. Perfect for dessert, snacks or a sweet breakfast treat.
Anyone who bakes a lot of bread inevitably needs to deal with a surplus of bread. Freezing stale bread is one option, but sometimes, I have some slightly stale bread that is just calling out to be made into bread pudding. Sweet breads or breads like raisin/cinnamon bread are especially good for bread pudding, as are breads that have a glaze or icing on top.
Even regular bread is perfect, as you can simply add raisins or cinnamon to your soaking mixture or change it up and toss a few berries in with the bread cubes for a fruit-filled bread pudding muffin. Raspberries or blueberries work especially nicely, and you can use fresh or frozen fruit.
Cook’s Notes
Instead of one large bread pudding, I sometimes like to make these bread pudding muffins. They’re like bread pudding in portable form. Perfect for dessert, an afternoon snack or even with your breakfast coffee. Eat them “as is”, with a drizzle of maple syrup or dress them up for a comforting dessert by serving them warm with a hard sauce or some Creme Anglaise or with a spoonful of fresh fruit.
A half loaf of stale bread will be enough for 6 bread pudding muffins. If you only have a bit of stale bread at a time, simply cube it up and store in a freezer bag in your freezer. Keep doing that with odds and ends of stale bread until you have enough to make a batch of these bread pudding muffins.
Get the Recipe: Bread Pudding Muffins
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. stale bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup white sugar , reduce a bit if bread is quite sweet or glazed already
- 3/4 cup whipping cream, can use a lower-fat cream or combination of creams
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- Optional: a few raisins or a bit of dried fruit*, if you like
- Icing/confectioners sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Place cubed bread into a large bowl and toss with cinnamon. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, cream and milk. Pour over the bread cubes. Stir in raisins or dried fruit, if using. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat oven 325 F. (160 C.) Line a 6-cup muffin tin with paper liners (or generously grease with butter).
- Scoop a heaping 1/2 cup of the pudding mixture into each of the 6 muffin cups (each one should be nicely mounded. Top off each muffin cup with any remaining liquid.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating the muffin tin 180 degrees about half-way through baking. Muffins should be lightly golden brown on top. Dust with confectioners' sugar while they're still warm.
