**Inspired** Donut and Coffee Bread Pudding

So, I'm sitting around - not working - and thinking about what to have after our Italian-themed Xmas dinner.

I remember seeing Michael "I Own Restaurants With Terrible Service" Chiarello make a cake donut bread pudding. The thought process continued and I came up with the donut and coffee bread pudding idea.

Basically, I'll get some day old cake donuts, break them up in a casserole and pour over a coffee custard.

What do you think? Any cautionary points? Tips?

I am not a coffee drinker at all. I can, however see why it would be appealing to others. Not sure about how your custard will get its coffee flavor from, but I would suggest using decaf if you were planning on using actual coffee or espresso. Depending on the amount that you use, if any of the kids get a hold of it, and start running around in circles......

Hmmm... you've got me thinking now. Kahlua and Bailey's kinda sounds decent in a bread pudding. Maybe even with a rum sauce to boot! I might try something like this myself.

Hell, I'd use chocolate iced yellow cake donuts, kahlua, and bailey's, and call it mochaccino (or mocha) bread pudding. The icing from the donuts would give you some nice little chocolate pockets. Obviously, you'd have to back off of the sugar of your custard concoction a little, but this kinda sounds good. Serve it with some cappuccino gelato, or coffee ice cream - drizzle with some kind of thickened sauce with bailey's or rum (or both ,) and dusted with unsweetened cocoa.

Personally, I would buy a good panetonne ($3-5 at many specialty grocery stores) and use that for the bread pudding and would infuse the custard with expresso.

Actually, that sounds real good tonight.

I've done a donut bread pudding once before. Here are my only cautions: 1) Pay attention to the amount of sugar you use. Obviously, the donuts you will use contain much more sugar than the typical bread used in bread pudding, so be careful not to make the custard as sweet as in the usual bread pudding; and 2) I think you're smart to use day-old donuts, but if using cake donuts, be careful about them becoming too dry because then they might be prone to crumbling.

If you go on the Food Network website there is a Paula Deen recipe for Krispy Kreme donut bread pudding. I haven't tried it , though.

This sounds like quite possibly the best thing anyone has thought up, ever. I plan to try it myself. Are you going to make it and report back?

seebee wrote:Hmmm... you've got me thinking now. Kahlua and Bailey's kinda sounds decent in a bread pudding. Maybe even with a rum sauce to boot! I might try something like this myself

In his Jamie's Kitchen book, Jamie Oliver has a recipe for Bailey's and Bananas bread pudding. It's really, really good.

Yes, I will be making the coffee and donut pudding for Xmas dinner. I may do a trial run for Saturday's dinner, but I'm making ~100 pierogi so time may be a factor.

I will certainly report back after the Xmas attempt, at least.

Re: Paula Deen's Krispy Kreme recipe, that sounds way too disgusting to me. I do not like KK to begin with; but add the thought of PD running through my head totally turns me off to the idea.

A few years ago, Molto Mario did an Italian Coffee Custard recipe which can be found at the FTV network site.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes ... 87,00.html

walrus wrote:Yes, I will be making the coffee and donut pudding for Xmas dinner. I may do a trial run for Saturday's dinner, but I'm making ~100 pierogi so time may be a factor.

I will certainly report back after the Xmas attempt, at least.

Re: Paula Deen's Krispy Kreme recipe, that sounds way too disgusting to me. I do not like KK to begin with; but add the thought of PD running through my head totally turns me off to the idea.

Time should not be too big an issue. BP is a snap.
My best advice: make sure you give it adequate soaking time.

Well, the coffee and donut bread pudding was a big hit and a great success. I pretty much followed Chiarello's recipe, but added coffee to the custard. (Next time I'll add espresso to a custard recipe to enhance the coffee flavor.)

For the sauce, I improvised a kahlua and Ghiradelli coffee bar sauce. (Thanks to the family member who brought the Ghiradelli treats.)

Overall, a very simple, yet impressive dessert. This has already been requested for the NYE party and will likely be turning up at many future parties.

Along the same idea - I've made Gale Gand's Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding, using day old croissants.

Just be warned about these types of recipes - you might wind up eating 6 croissiants, 4 cups of cream and half and half, a cup of sugar, 6 eggs and almost a half pound of chocolate in one sitting.

I have some crusty peasant white bread and am looking to make some bread pudding tonight. I am thinking something with golden raisins, dried cherries, and cinnamon but I don't really know what else beyond that, if anything. Thoughts, suggestions, recipes? Thanks in advance.

I've incorporated pumpkin or sweet potato puree into my bread pudding custard with pretty tasty results. like pumpkin pie bread pudding.

Interesting that I stumbled across this, as I just made an apple cider doughnut bread pudding with brandy custard. It is fantastic. After the shitty day I've had, I can't wait until I'm home so I can have a nice fat slice.

However, today I want it warm with caramel sauce. What's the best way to warm bread pudding? I don't want it to get weepy and break the custard. Is it best to do in the oven or microwave? For how long?