Mango Raisin Bread Pudding
You might be thinking - mango in your bread pudding?!? Why not right? I have loved bread pudding since I was a kid. My Aunt Ester (same aunt who specializes in leche flan) would make bread pudding on multiple occasions (birthdays, holidays, etc). Thus, eating bread pudding makes me nostalgic, it just brings back a lot of fun childhood memories. Today, when I am out at a restaurant and it’s on their menu, I make sure i order it just to taste test and if made to my liking. (Some are way too rich and too sweet - that’d be a no-no for me)
I’ve made pudding over the years but not as frequent and i just stick with basic ingredients of bread, milk, raisins, etc. However, this time around, creativity kicked in and thought why not enhance and elevate by adding dried mangos? I used the Trader Joes brand since i don’t have the Filipino dried mangoes at the moment. … AND grand marnier is part of the prep process! (I KNOW!). Other recipes online calls for bourbon to add to the sauce but went other route - plumped the dried fruits with warm water + Grand Marnier!
Ingredients
6 cups cubed bread
2 cups milk
3 large eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon melted butter
1/4 cup dried mango (1/2 inch cubed)
1/4 cup yellow (or black) raisins
1 oz Grand Marnier (yes!)
Prep the baking dish
Grease an 8×8-inch casserole dish
Bread (I used store bought Challah bread)
Cut bread into at least 1 inch chunks and spread it evenly to your greased 8x 8 casserole dish
Tip: Sourdough bread, brioche or regular white bread will work too
Plump those dried fruits!
Soak raisins and dried mangos in warm water + Grand Marnier for 20 minutes
Mixture
Using a large bowl, whisk the eggs then add milk, sugar, vanilla and melted butter
Bread + Mixture
Pour the mixture evenly over the bread, make sure bread is soaked. Add the soaked dried fruits into the mixture, spread it out evenly. Let the mixture sit for 20 minutes
Preheat over to 350 degrees (176 C) Bake for 50-55 minutes.
(Another option is to steam it if you have a steamer large enough for an 8x8 pan or a square pan used, ~35 minutes)
Tip: Use the toothpick/skewer test. Insert into the middle and if it comes out clean, the pudding is ready!
Enjoy! I usually have it for breakfast or as a dessert =)
I prefer mine with no sauce but this time around I made vanilla sauce following recipe from The Spruce Eats. It was delicious but i think i’ll stick to no sauce =)
