Irish Bread & Butter Pudding with Whiskey Cream

I've made a couple discoveries: 1) I don't like whiskey.  2) Whiskey-spiked whipped cream is the bomb.

I adapted Joe's grandmother's Irish Bread & Butter Pudding for my book club's Irish tea-themed event last week.  I'd had it many times made by his mom, and it's the ultimate comfort food.  Perhaps the main way Irish Bread & Butter Pudding differs from other bread puddings is that the bread is buttered before being soaked with the custard and baked.  But I wanted to update the recipe a little.  For a fancier teatime look I made the pudding in this quiche dish instead of the ordinary 9x13-inch pan.  I also lightened up quantities of butter and eggs, and both endeavors called for messing with all the proportions.  I used my co-workers as guinea pigs for the first batch, which I can now admit was a bit soggy.  I don't think they noticed, though, because it was the whiskey-spiked whipped cream that got all the attention.  "Did you say whiskey??"  Yes, and go light on the whipped cream, at least until deadline.

That was my other update: I soaked the raisins in whiskey, and then spiked the whipped cream with some.  I love how the cream smooths out the edges of the hard stuff.  This is not your grandma's bread pudding.  Or at least not Grandma O'Neil's, though her whiskey-free original is still awesome.  I also brush some apricot jam on at the end for added sweetness and color.  And the proportions of round two worked out with the approval of Joe, who said it tasted authentic, in the family sense.

The gracious hosting and gorgeous decor were courtesy of Rebecca of A Love Letter to Rome. The amazing Mrs. Hot Potato baked the lower two tiers of Lemon; Chocolate, Almond & Toffee; and Parmesan Thyme Cheddar Chive Shortbread.

I got compliments on the pudding at book club, and my friends shared my co-workers' enthusiasm for the whiskey cream.  They even dolloped it on top of scones.  Add some Irish tea, beer, colcannon, haddock chowder, soda bread, shortbread, and Irish fiddling, and we had the makings of a lovely afternoon.

Blizzard Chocolate-Banana Bread Pudding

Just what does everyone make with the milk, bread, and eggs they buy before a big storm hits?  One possibility when you're all holed up is bread pudding!  OK, so this one is a little richer with half-and-half instead of milk, and you've got to have some chocolate and bananas on hand.  But when you need a break from shoveling a foot of snow and shaking your fist at the plowmen who piled a snow wall at your driveway, there will be bread pudding waiting for you.

Not my house, in case you had stalking intentions.  But the scene is pretty.  My honest thoughts about the bread pudding?  Definitely better cold, and not warm from the oven.  And it was good, but I think I had built up my expectations too high.  I'd rather have chocolate cake, or a banana split.  Even better, cinnamon raisin bread pudding.

The bread was soaked in the chocolate custard overnight.  I almost forgot to add the bananas the next morning before they went in the oven!  You can see that I switched the square pan up to a larger size.  Both the ramekins and the 10-by-7-inch pan were done in 45 minutes, in case you're interested in making smaller batches.  I also halved the recipe, since it makes a lot of bread pudding!