Happy Earth Day! I’m baking again. Well, we’ve been baking since March 24. It’s hard to believe that our new stove was delivered almost a month ago, right in time for Patrick’s birthday, which was great. I was even able to bake a birthday cake, with the only problem that the delivery and installation pushed all our cooking plans late into the evening, so there were no good photos of the cake.

Okay, the other problem was that my frosting didn’t turn out very pretty. So I didn’t think my first cake in our new oven was blog-worthy. It was tasty, though! Patrick had asked for a lemony dessert, so I made a four-tier mini cake filled with lots of lemon cream. 

Since then, we’ve been trying to stay away from eating too many sweets in an effort to get in better shape, so it’s been a bit quiet in the baking department. We are also trying to resume our family hikes on Sundays. We started the tradition some time ago, but haven’t been very consistent.

Last weekend, we managed to go on a hike in the City with the kids along the Pacific Coast Trail. We started at Lands End, near one of our all-time favorite restaurants, Cliff House, which closed down due to Covid, unfortunately. 

The views of the ocean were superb, and the wildflowers on the path looked kind of tropical. It felt a little like Costa Rica. Everything was so green. Very pretty, and we definitely got a workout. 

Today I decided it was time to put the oven back to work, by finally trying out the Simple Bread Pudding I’ve had bookmarked on my online recipe box for months.

Growing up, our housekeeper, Ana, used to make one of the simplest bread puddings I’ve ever known. Hers was a “no-recipe recipe,” as @samsifton would say. You took leftover sandwich bread, butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla and swirled them together in the blender for a second, poured the mixture into a pan, and stuck it in the oven; super easy, and while warm, pretty tasty! However, after the pudding cooled down, it wasn’t the prettiest looking dessert. It became a dense, beige, slab of dough — not that it tasted bad, it just didn’t look very appetizing. So, whenever I see bread pudding recipe photos like this one, I make sure to save them. 

Today, I finally made Matt Bittman’s recipe, which I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. I followed his advice and made some modifications right away. I’ve learned that bread pudding recipes are very forgiving. Trust me, I’ve been making Ana’s bread pudding my whole life, and I’ve never had to toss any of it out.

The recipe called for vanilla extract, but I had real vanilla beans in the cupboard, so of course, I used one of those. I also used less butter and swapped out some of the milk for heavy cream. My first impulse was to make this an orange-flavored pudding, but all I had in the house were apples. So, I chopped one into tiny cubes and added it to the bread with a tad of cinnamon. I thought adding the apple would make it more like real breakfast and less like dessert. After all, it was six in the morning when I started baking. I was hoping the kids would eat a little piece before heading off to school.

The pudding came out super close to the picture, which was exactly what I wanted. The bread cubes still recognizable, just custardy enough to pass as pudding. I was careful to pour the milk and egg mixture very slowly over the bread so that every inch was fully covered but not swimming in liquid. The apple pieces remained a bit firm, which was a nice contrast to the custard.

As I was dusting the top of the pudding with a little confectioner’s sugar to give it the final touch, my 15-year-old son walked into the kitchen, ready to eat some breakfast. I asked him if he wanted to try my delicious bread pudding that had just come out of the oven. He stopped to look at me, removed one of his earbuds (headphones have become part of his being), looked at the pudding, and looked at me again, and said in his best teenage tone, “Why are you making Christmas dinner?” (He hadn’t heard a word I’d said and thought it was turkey stuffing.) He put the earbud back into his ear and continued to walk past me carrying a box of Crispix and milk to the table.

I asked my daughter if she wanted a little piece before heading out. From her room, I heard a faint, “Sure! Be there in a bit!” Minutes later, the two of them were gone, and it was suddenly just me in the kitchen, staring at an intact dish full of apple bread pudding.

I hope you have a nice day celebrating Earth Day. I will be enjoying a piece of bread pudding with a nice cup of coffee before it gets cold and watering my plants which are in need of some TLC. 

Simple Bread Pudding with Apples and Cinnamon

(Good enough for hosting brunch)

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon (1/8 stick) butter, more for greasing pan
1 vanilla bean
⅓ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, beaten
½ loaf challah bread, cut into 2-inch cubes (or pan dulce)
1 apple cut into small dice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Confectioners’ sugar for decoration

Steps

• Heat the oven to 350 F. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm the milk, cream, butter, vanilla bean, sugar, and salt. Continue cooking just until the butter melts.
• Butter a 2-quart baking dish and add the cubed bread.
• Whisk the eggs and add them to the milk mixture. (Add a little bit of the warm milk mixture to the eggs to temper them before combining them with the rest of the milk.)
• Slowly, pour the custard over the bread making sure to cover every cube. (Take your time.)
• Cut the apple into small dice and mix with the cinnamon. Sprinkle on top of the bread mixture. (You can pre-cook the apples in a pan with a small amount of butter to make them softer.)
• Bake for 35 minutes, or until custard sets and the edges of the bread turn a nice golden brown. Right before serving, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.
• This dish is best served warm, but also good at room temperature.