Soft Maple Bread Pudding that makes a cozy autumn brunch

With simple ingredients like milk, eggs, bread, and maple syrup, this vintage bread pudding is delicately sweet and soft. It’s the perfect vessel for any spices, add-ins, or toppings you’d like to add to make this dish your own.

Autumn is a time where we shift gears, slow down, and take in the changing of the seasons. At least that’s what I’d like to do! With three holidays three months in a row, to be honest it feels like it’s full steam ahead. If I want any kind of slow down or mental break, I have to carve that time out and make myself take that time.

When I was hunting for the next Vintage Autumn Series recipe, that’s just the kind of recipe I was trying to find – something that was cozy and worth slowing down for.

Enter: Maple Bread Pudding.

This recipe was soft and moist and drizzled with sweet salty Butterscotch Sauce was just the autumn pick-me-up I needed!

Recipe Background

I was searching through wartime newspapers online for Halloween recipes and found some interesting things. Nothing was really catching my eye until I found “The Housewife’s Corner” edited by Mrs. Eunice Larkin with all kinds of advice for the Halloween menu, including this recipe for Maple Bread Pudding. It was in the Farmer City Journal from Farmer City, Illinois in the October 8, 1942 edition, via newspapers.com. (Though the same column appeared in several newspapers around the country.)

The ingredients are simple, and I had them all in my cupboard or fridge already. It does use quite a bit of maple syrup (3/4 cup), but I love that it’s the only sweetener. The maple syrup gives just that delicate hint of earthy sweetness that lends itself so well to such this humble dish.

Tools You Might Need

• Bowl
• Whisk
• Wooden Spoon
• Ramekins
• Cutting board
• bread knife/knife to cut the bread
• Large pan for water bath for puddings

Ingredients

• Bread – any kind of bread will do. For this recipe I used a white, thicker sliced bread that no one was eating.
• Eggs – Egg yolks and egg whites are used separately in this recipe, so be prepared for some egg white whipping.
• Maple Syrup – the 100% real deal. Not the pancake syrup.
• Water
• Evaporated Milk – though whole milk or plain nut milk would do in a pinch
• Salt – Redmond’s Rock Salt is my favorite

How to make Maple Bread Pudding

Beat the eggs yolks, then add in the maple syrup, water, and evaporated milk. Stir to combine. Fold in the bread cubes until they are well coated. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff, but not dry. Fold into the egg mixture.

Pour the mixture into a buttered baking dish. (I picked one that was too small, so I put the rest in a tiny vintage baking dish.) Set in a pan of hot water and bake at 350°F for about 1 hour or until set and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Serve warm with extra maple syrup or Butterscotch Sauce:

• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbsp. water
• 1/3 c. light corn syrup
• 5 Tbsp. butter
• 1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
• Pinch of salt

In a small saucepan stir together the brown sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt. Warm up over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved. Add in the butter and stir until melted. Remove from the heat. Add in the sweetened condensed milk. Serve warm, or once cooled, store in a jar in the fridge for up to one week.

Notes

This bread pudding is best eaten the same day or maybe for breakfast the next morning. This recipe does not make great leftovers. Feel free to add in raisins, chopped apples or chocolate chips or any other cozy add-in to make this dish your signature bread pudding!

The original recipe has a lot of liquid. I added two extra slices of bread for the bread cubes, but I think it could’ve used a couple more. I did modify the final recipe to compensate.

Bake time will vary depending on how many bread slices are used and how wet the pudding is. Mine took about an hour to finally be set enough.

The recipe is fairly simple and is such a great addition to autumn brunch or dessert rotations!