Gastronomous

How we enjoyed the holidays at Gammy’s . Everyone would bring a nice pie, pudding or cake, but Gammy, having lived through times of economic depression, made the best of all!

She was a clever woman who know the value of everything and knew not to waste and make do with what she had on hand, and she always had was bread, eggs and her goody pantry!

Although the recipe would change year to year according to the contents of her pantry, we re-created the basic flavor and  old world charm with chopped rum-macerated dried fruit and chocolate extract. If you do not have or can’t find chocolate extract, use vanilla and macerate the fruit in orange liquor ( she did it from time to time to :))

Best of all :use any kind of bread ( except onion or garlic) to make this pudding, even if they are a slightly hard, or on the very fresh side, the milk and eggs will take care of the texture.

Enjoy with spiced wine or toddy

Ingredients:

6 cups day old bread, torn to small pieces
1 cup blond raisins
1 cup dried fruit chopped macerated in rum
3 eggs beaten
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp chocolate extract
1 tsp powdered cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix the bread with the dried fruit and the raisins.
In a mixing bowl, place all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Grease a 9 inch round cake pan and add the bread and fruit mixture. Pour the egg-milk mixture on top. Gently swirl the pan around to let mix.

Place in the top rack of the oven and let bake for 45 minutes or until the center is set. Let cool and un-mold.

Serve with rum sauce or maple syrup. Enjoy!