Craisin Bread Pudding

[insert picture here- coming soon, I promise! Hubby and I just re-did the office and for the life of me I can't find my USB cable or Card Reader for my camera...]

Story...

Before the blizzards came we (like many others-traffic was horrendous-check out lines another story) stocked up on staples: bread, milk, eggs, peanut butter, ramen, etc. Well my husband went a little overboard in the loaves of bread department. I still had a loaf that was starting to get a bit old, so I began looking up bread pudding recipes. I had never eaten nor baked it before so this was a completely new experience. After researching 3 recipes and reading the reiews (too many eggs, not enough flavor...) I combined what I liked best about each one and ended up with this:

Craisin Bread Pudding

• 6 slices of bread (at least 1-day old, I used store brand wheat)
• 2 Tbsp butter (melted)
• 1/2 cup Craisins (we don't like raisins, you can substitute or omit completely)
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup sugar (you can go to 1/2 cup if you're worried)
  
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 eggs

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350*
2. Break bread into small pieces and place in an 8x8 baking dish
3. Drizzle melted butter over the bread and then sprinkle on the Craisins
4. Beat remaining ingredients together in a medium sized bowl
5. Pour mixture over bread, lightly press bread down with a fork to make sure it is covered and soaking up the mixture
6. Bake for 45min, the stop should spring back when touched

Enjoy! It is great as a dessert or breakfast dish (for dessert you can add whipped cream, we didn't but many reviews said it added to the whole taste). We both loved it, and our friends said it was one of the most innovated and best tasting bread pudding they had. They even said that the Craisins added a better element than raisins in other bread pudding. =)