BOURBON SAUCE FOR BREAD PUDDING SOUTHERN RECIPES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place stale bread in a bowl with milk and squeeze the bread with your hand until well saturated with milk.
• With an electric mixer on high speed in a separate bowl, beat eggs with sugar until thick and pale. Stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, butter and raisins to the egg mixture. Add the soaked bread crumbs to the egg mixture and stir well. Let stand for 10 minutes. It is important to allow enough time for the bread to absorb the egg mixture or the bread crumbs will float to the top during baking, leaving a layer of custard on the bottom of the dish.
• Transfer the mixture to a greased baking dish. Bake until firm, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let it slightly cool in the dish.
• Meanwhile, near the end of the baking time, make the sauce. With an electric mixer, beat egg yolks until thick and pale. In a saucepan, melt the butter and sugar. Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the egg yolks, beating constantly with the mixer, until well thickened. Stir in bourbon by hand. Serve the pudding warm with vanilla ice cream if desired. Pass the hot bourbon sauce separately.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove crusts from bread and reserve. Cut bread slices into cubes. In a large bowl, beat eggs well. Add milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, Grand Marnier and mix well. Add cinnamon, juice, and lemon zest. Stir in cherries and raisins. Add bread cubes and stir until well coated. Let stand 30 minutes, stirring often. If mixture is soupy, you may need to add additional slices of white bread (crusts removed.) The mixture should be wet but not soupy. Pour into buttered baking dish, dusted with sugar. Prepare topping in a food processor. Add crusts, butter and brown sugar, pulsing until mixture is crumbly. Spread evenly over top of pudding. Bake in a water bath for 50 minutes covered with foil. Remove foil and bake another 10 minutes or until brown on top. Serve with bourbon sauce.
• Mix eggs, butter, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and 1/2 cup bourbon. In top of a double boiler cook until temperature reads 165 on a thermometer. Beating constantly and being careful not to curdle eggs. Remove from heat and strain. In a mixer bowl, beat sauce until slightly cool, adding remaining bourbon a little at a time. Serve with bread pudding.