Recipes for bread pudding date back to medieval times, and are a frugal but delicious way to use up stale bread. This version is an easy-to-make German apple bread pudding. Rich with fruit and raisins, its flavor is reminiscent of apple pie. It is particularly tasty served with a high-quality vanilla ice cream or custard sauce.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter for greasing
2 C (480 ml) milk
2 lg eggs
3 Tbsp (37 g) sugar, divided
2 tsp (10 g) cinnamon, plus extra for sprinkling
4 lg apples, finely grated
½ C (65 g) raisins
4 stale dinner rolls, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp (30 g) butter
½ C (15 g) breadcrumbs

Directions

Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C). Grease an 8x8-inch (20x20 cm) baking dish with butter. Mix together milk, eggs, 2 T (25 g) sugar and cinnamon. Working quickly, layer half the grated apples, half the raisins and half the rolls in the baking dish. Repeat, ending with roll layer on top. Pour milk mixture over this; dot with butter and sprinkle with breadcrumbs, remaining sugar and cinnamon evenly on top. Bake until golden brown, about 50–60 minutes.

Prep time: 15 minutes.
Cook time: 1 hour.
Makes 4–6 servings.