Bread pudding is a surefire crowd-pleaser and a great way to make use of bakery items that would otherwise be destined for the trash bin. This extra-decadent riff on the classic dish uses day-old doughnuts in place of plain bread. While this recipe calls for basic cake doughnuts, it’s entirely open to customization: you can use any doughnuts you wish. And if you have fewer than ten of them left, simply adjust the size of the baking dish and cooking time accordingly. It’s worth noting that cake doughnuts do tend to work better than yeast-raised versions, as their crumb does a better job of absorbing the pudding custard.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1½ tablespoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- Basic Cake Doughnuts, or 10 leftover cake doughnuts
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, combine the cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, and salt and bring it to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks until smooth. Once your pot has reached a full simmer, slowly pour half the cream mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the saucepan and remove the pan from the heat. Let the mixture cool. Strain the custard through a fine-mesh sieve and set it aside.
- Tear the doughnuts into thimble-size pieces and arrange them tightly in a round baking dish that’s about 7 inches in diameter or in an 8 × 8-inch baking dish. Pour the custard over the doughnut pieces, filling the dish just so that the doughnuts are barely covered. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes so that the doughnuts absorb the custard.
- Bake the pudding until the custard is fully set in the center, about 50 minutes. Serve immediately.
