Orange Cognac Bread Pudding: New Year Blog With Friends

Today’s post is the next in our series of Blog With Friends themed collaborations. Each month a group of bloggers get together and each publish a project based on a theme. What I love about his partnership is that it's not bloggers with similar interests or strengths but a diverse group coming up with a variety of posts. In any given month we may a recipe, sewing tutorial, crocheting, crafts project, book review, and/or technology post all related to the theme of the month.

This month's theme is New Year.

There will be individual project pictures and links to what everyone else has to offer at the end of my post, but here's a peek at what we all came up with:

 

I made Orange Cognac Bread Pudding.

Orange Cognac Bread Pudding

It's the new year! You probably knew that. January is such a strange month. Having just gone through 3 months that included my birthday, College Boy's birthday, Hubs' birthday, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year's Eve, I feel like I've planned, prepped, cooked, baked and cleaned in a way that hamsters on a wheel might relate to. One thing just rolls into the next and the next and the next.

Then suddenly January rolls around and after the first it's a dead stop. No family birthdays until next month. No holidays to cook and bake for until Valentine's Day. It feels eerily stagnant.

So although January is often a time for people to wholeheartedly attack yet another set of resolutions or {{gasp}} commitment to diet, for me it's a time to work on staying creative. So this year for our New Year's day dessert, I decided to try something new and I'm glad I did. This bread pudding is so easy to make and smells amazing as it cooks. No question, I'll be making it again soon. 

When I say this is easy to make, I mean it. The most effort you have to make is just chopping the bread.

Mix it with the liquid ingredients, cover and refrigerate. I do this part the day before I'm going to serve it. The bread will soak up all that yummy liquid. 

Once it's in the crockpot, be sure to put paper towels under the cover. This stops the condensation that forms on the cover from dripping into your dessert. It only takes about 3 hours. You'll probably have to replace the paper towels once or twice while it's in the crockpot, but that's the extent of your effort. And just wait until you smell it 
cooking!

You can serve this dessert a number of ways, I top the warm bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Or top with whipped cream. Or just serve it naked.

 

As always, any time you make one of my recipes, feel free to post a picture of it to my Baking In A Tornado Facebook Page. I'd love to see it!

Be sure to visit all of this month's other Blog With Friends projects:

Dawn of Spatulas on Parade shares her recipe for Sugar Free Pear Bundt with Vanilla Whipped Cream.

Minette of Southern Belle Charm shares a DIY, What's Old is New.

Lydia of Cluttered Genius shares Go Mom! 2019, inspiring Mom through the eyes of your kids.

Jules of The Bergham Chronicles shares New Leaf.

Orange Cognac Bread Pudding

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1# Italian loaf
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup milk 
1/3 cup cinnamon coffee creamer (can substitute with other flavors, too)
2/3 cup orange cognac
3 eggs
6 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp orange zest
1 can mandarin oranges, drained

Directions:
*Cut bread into approximately one inch chunks.
*In a microwave safe bowl, melt the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream until completely smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
*In a large bowl, whisk milk, creamer, orange cognac, eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange zest together, then add the melted white chocolate. Mix in the bread cubes until all the bread is coated. Carefully mix in the the drained oranges, then cover and refrigerate for an hour, or up to a day.
*Spray crockpot with non-stick spray.
*Pour bread pudding mix into crockpot. Manipulate the mix so it's thicker along the sides of the pot with less in the center, as the edges cook faster.
*Put a paper towel over the crockpot so that the cover holds the towel up under the cover. It shouldn't be anywhere near the pudding. Check and replace the paper towel every now and then when it gets too wet.
*Cook on low for approximately 3 hours. Serve warm.
*NOTE: times vary depending on size of crockpot and differences in heat levels. Keep an eye on it the first time to know how long it will take for you.