(This was one of my first blog page attempts, which I never published, back in 2012.)
Ok, first you must understand my love for all things caramel and/or butterscotch. Do not confuse the two, they are NOT the same. I love them the same, but still…just saying. Sometimes people substitute one for the other, and that is a royal sin, right up there with mixing metaphors and screwing up the English language.
So, anyway, I’m surfing Pinterest for sweets, of course, and what do I find but a lovely recipe for bread pudding! Another love…so I am de-freakin-lited when I read that it’s Butterscotch Bread Pudding!
It calls for day-old bread. Well, here’s the deal, I NEVER have day-old bread laying around because the birds get it. As a matter of fact, the birds in my yard get so much day old, screwed up, leftover, aged bread and bread products that they literally flip me off when I put seed in the feeders!
As a matter of fact, Rosie, a fat mother (and I mean that in the sweetest way) robin that, along with her handsome husband, BP (as in Brad Pitt), claimed my maple tree as her continual and recurring “summer place” three years ago, came to my back French door and not so politely beat on first one and then the other glass panel until I finally acknowledged her presence. With a scathing, one-eyed, up-down look she promptly put wings to hips, (if robins have hips), cocked her head at me and gave me the “Where the hell’s the bread, lady?!” look. “We’re birds, we ain’t got all day!”
Now, before I get 500 people sending me lessons regarding bird behavior, I may have stretched Rosie’s abilities a little, ok? I don’t know that much about birds, just that I like some and would like to shoot others. But I really do love Rosie, although I’m sure she thinks I’m a complete moron. Please don’t send me information on robins, I won’t read it. I don’t care if BP is the same guy bird every year, Rosie can be a hussy robin if she wants.
I just know that Rosie (or some exact replica) shows up every spring, male in tow, and builds a nest in the same damn place every time! I know because it’s right over my cozy little bench tucked in the corner of the flower garden by the pool. And every spring I’m picking up Rosie’s less fortunate children who continue to get booted out of the nest, never learn to fly, can’t get back up there and promptly die and wilt on my freakin’ bench. If she weren’t a bird, I would have reported her to DHS a long time ago.
Anyway, back to the butterscotch bread pudding. As I said, no bread. But what I did have, (so lucky), was a really crappy recent bomb of a coffee cake. I know, how the heck do you screw up a coffee cake? Apparently it isn’t that hard, unlike the coffee cake. Ha! It actually didn’t taste bad, assuming you could wash it down with a half gallon of milk or coffee. Obviously no one was beating down the door to get to it…not even the birds! So I decided this was a perfect stand-in for the bread. Since it was already Sahara prepared, I didn’t even have to wait a day.
Following the recipe to a T (ha, I crack myself up), I crumbled and dumped it into a bowl. The recipe called for 4 cups of milk, but since the price of a gallon of milk today pisses me off, I’m kind of stingy with it. Assuming I even buy it. But I always, without fail, have canned milk. Not sure why that is, it just seems to be in my cabinet regularly. And it’s cheap. So…I happily yanked a couple cans off the shelf, added enough water to make 4 cups and, wah-la, milk.
Next I added the vanilla, eggs, and brown sugar, mixing well, being sure to slop it on the counter. This mixture is runny, as you will see when you slop your own out. Then I added melted butter, stirring vigorously and slopping more out, as required. Pour this mixture over the bread, preferably without the slop out step, as this is harder to clean up.
Then, of course, the butterscotch chips! Calls for one cup, and since I’m such a stickler for following directions, I carefully measured a half bag and dumped them all over the top, being sure to save plenty for munching later.
Poured this in a “pammed” casserole dish…actually dirtied two dishes because I had too much for the original 9×13 pan. Popped into 350 oven and waited an hour. It actually took longer to type this than it did to cook, so now it’s sitting out here on the cabinet, cooling.
According to the recipe, you should let it cool then slap a big ole dollop of whipped up heavy whipping cream on top. My grandson calls it “Heaven whipping cream” and I’m inclined to agree. You may deface it with the fake stuff if you must.
Follow the recipe, I’m not about to tell you how to do it! Just replace the bread with crappy coffee cake and enjoy!
Omg! This is amazing! You will be making crappy coffee cake from now on, just for the excuse to make this!
Mmmmmm, I can hear my blood sugar levels rising as we speak!
Butterscotch Bread Pudding (Not my picture, it came with the recipe.)
1 loaf of day old bread (or crappy dry coffee cake)
4 cups milk. 2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted. 3 eggs, beaten
2 tsps vanilla extract. 1 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13 pan. Place crumbled bread in large bowl, let set for about an hour. In separate large bowl, combine everything else. Mix well. Pour over bread and stir til well blended. Consistency will be like oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until nearly set. (i.e. jiggly, but not runny). Serve warm or cold, with dollop of whipped cream.
Or if it’s dry….bring it over and I’ll feed it to Rosie!
Thesignpaintersdaughter 