This easy elegant pudding is our favorite for a mid morning treat! Usually we'll make it on a relaxed kinda day when we can all sleep in a bit (a weekend day!) Once we get up it's the quickest and easiest thing to mix up and slip this pudding into the the oven for a midmorning scrummy and most comforting sweet treat. This Star Anise Rum Raisin Bread Pudding is golden crispy on the top, soft and creamy on the inside, dotted with plump rummy raisins, and touched with just a hint of sweet and licoricey star anise. So yummilicious...
The only thing to pre-prepare are the rummy raisins. These raisins are sooo good, soaked thru and thru with rum til plump and juicy. Just add enough rum to barely cover and let the raisins soak overnight for a seriously decadent plumping effect. If you don't want to use alcohol for soaking, try using fruit juices, strong tea or even coffee! Same effect, different flavor combination!
We added a hint of spice to our bread pudding by infusing our liquids ingredients with star anise, a Chinese spice which I love. Its distinctive star shape pods impart a warm and sweetly licoricey flavor that is absoluto perfecto in desserts.
This pudding is so easy to make! Here we add milk, butter, vanilla extract, sugar, salt and two star anise pods to a pan. Heat until everything is melted. Eggs are whisked in once the mixture is cooled to room temperature (so that the mixture won't cook the eggs!) and your custard pudding part of the bread pudding is ready.
The other part, the bread pudding part, is super duper cool cuz you make bread pudding with bread that's already made! That's a big part of why this fabulous pudding is so quick and easy to make. It could be leftover bread or just plain ol' bread from the supermarket. We just used the last half of our beautiful loaf of Life Bread*.
Whatever bread you decide to use, just slice it up in to chunks. These chunks of sliced bread will form the body of your pudding.
*Life Bread is an iconic product of Hong Kong, launched in the 1960's by Garden Bakery to boost the health of post war working class HKers. Its soft vitamin and mineral enriched bread is famously wrapped in a blue and white checkered waxed paper packing. So cool! You can still find it on HK supermarket shelves.
Scatter the chunks of bread and rum soaked raisins into your butter greased baking pan. See, so easy, amirite?
Pour the custard pudding mixture all over the chunks of bread. Use a spoon to press down gently on the bread, making sure each bit of bread soaks up the custard. Yeah, super duper easy...
And that's all the prep there is and your bread pudding goes into the oven for a bake and comes out like this. Golden, puffed, and smelling oh so incredible! Eggy and creamy and sweet and caramel-y and just goodness... This is really one of the easiest ever gosh darn impressive bakes there is, lol.
Except...if you want to jump to the next level...you can make some luscious warm vanilla sauce to dribble all over the bread pudding. Oh so divine!
It's a quick and easy stir in the pot and soon you'll have a luscious warm vanilla sauce.
Golden and crispy on the outside, soft, creamy and comforting on the inside, dotted with plump rummy raisins and drizzled with luscious vanilla sauce - this Star Anise Rum Raisin Bread Pudding is a surefire way to comfort your tummy and heart through and through!
Star Anise Rum Raisin Bread Pudding
(8 servings) Soak time: 3 hrs Prep: 10 mins Bake: 30 mins
Ingredients:
Pudding
- 1/2 cups raisins
- 3 tbsp rum
- 2 cups milk
- 2 1/2 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cups sugar, 75g
- pinch salt
- 2 star anise
- 1/2 loaf bread, or around 5-6 slices
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
Sauce
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Soak the raisins: Add the raisins and rum to a small bowl, making sure that the rum just covers the raisins. Cover and leave to soak overnight or at least 3 hours til plump. Sieve raisins from rum, reserving the rum to add to the custard mix.
Make the custard: Add the milk, butter, vanilla extract, sugar, salt and star anise to a small pot. Heat over low heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the butter and sugar are melted. Add the reserved rum. Let the custard cool down.
Slice the bread: Use a bread knife to slice the bread into approximately 1 1/2 inch squares.
Add egg to custard mix: Remove the star anise. Whisk the egg and then add to the cooled custard mixture. Note that the custard just needs to be cooled enough to not cook the eggs.
Preheat oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C).
Assemble and bake: Grease a 9 by 9 inch baking pan with butter. Add the bread and raisins evenly throughout. Pour the custard mix over the pan, making sure to soak all the bread. Use the back of a spoon to press down on any missed parts of the bread. Slide into the oven to bake for 30-35 mins or until the custard is set but still wobbly and top of the pudding is a golden brown.
Make the sauce: While the pudding is baking make the sauce. In a small pot melt the butter over a low heat. Once the butter is melted add in the flour while whisking constantly. Add milk, sugar, cinnamon, salt and egg into the pot. Whisk constantly until the sauce is smooth. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 10 mins. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Garnish and serve: Sift the powdered sugar over the bread pudding. Slice into serving size pieces. Place pudding servings onto plates and drizzle over with warm vanilla sauce before serving hot and delicious. Enjoy!
Storage: Store covered in the fridge up to 4 days. To eat reheat in the oven at 350°F(176°C) for 10 mins or until warmed through.
Sweet Treats at The Hong Kong Cookery:
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