Pudding For Breakfast?

Seeley made a dessert pudding last week, but puddings don’t always have to be sweet.  With Easter coming up next weekend, many of us will have lots of leftover ham to find uses for, so I thought I’d put it in a savory bread pudding.  Eggs benedict bread pudding is just the thing.  You can even put it all together before bed and just pop the pan into the oven in the morning for an easy and delicious breakfast for the whole family. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 6 English muffins
• 1 cup diced ham
• 1 cup grated cheese
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup milk
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

The first thing you need to do is butter a 9x13 pan.  This is probably a good place for me to say, do as I say, not as I do.  Yes I know that is a square pan in the picture, but trust me, you want a 9x13. 

Tear up half of your English muffins and scatter them in the pan. 

Sprinkle on half of the ham. 

Then half of the cheese. 

Repeat.  Muffins, ham, cheese. 

And now you see why I told you to use a 9x13 pan.  Then you don’t have to dirty two of them when you figure out the square one is too small. 

There we go.  Much better. 

Now for the custard part.  I like to mix it in a large measuring cup so that it’s easy to pour.  Crack in your 4 eggs.  (yeah, ignore the picture again.)

Whisk them together, and then pour in the half and half and the milk. 

Add the salt and pepper and whisk some more. 

Pour that over the bread mixture. 

Press everything down so that every piece is soaked with the custard, then cover the pan and refrigerate it for at least a few hours, or overnight. 

When you’re ready, preheat your oven to 350°.  Bake for 40-50 minutes.  It should be starting to brown on top, and a knife inserted in the center will come out clean. 

That needs to cool for 20 minutes before you cut into it, so while you’re waiting, go ahead and whip up some hollandaise sauce to drizzle over the top.  Now how’s that for pudding? 

How do you like your pudding?  Sweet or savory? 

Update on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 8:55AM by Taneasha

So after eating both the fresh out of the oven version, and the reheated leftovers version, I've decided this dish is much better after being chilled.  I would recommend making and baking it before bed, then refrigerating it overnight and reheating it in the morning.  Don't get me wrong, it's really tasty either way, but the texture of the reheated version is better. 

square coconuts

Two times two = squares!

As Taneasha mentioned we're two and since she got to do the cake I figured I should come up with something representative of this, our most illustrious day.

Two posts in one? Nope, I'm more likely to split one post in two. A two-fer? That still sounds like two posts. Two twos...  well, that's two squared. I can square things.

Like coconuts.

Coconut Squares

• 2 eggs
• 2 c sugar
• 2 c coconut
• 2 halves of a teaspoon of vanilla
• two pinches of salt

(Actually, I only used 1-1/2 c of sugar, but the recipe I used as a starting point for these called for 2, and well, we're 2)

Preheat the oven to 350. Wow, we really are learning.

One bowl. Crack the two eggs into it. And beat them with a whisk. Don't worry about hurting them; they actually kinda like it.

Drop in the sugar, salt and vanilla, and give them a good mix.

Then the coconut. Okay, one bowl, but maybe a bigger one next time.

A whisk will not work any more. Time to move up to the wooden spoon (they still won't say ouch) and then spread it into a square pan that's been buttered and lined with parchment.

Bake them for about 30 minutes. I think. Pretty sure I started with 25 and they needed about 5 more...

A toothpick should come out clean when they're done. I really should write this stuff down. It's a good thing we take pictures of ingredients.

Cut them into 16 squares. That's two raised to the power of 2 twice. In case you were wondering how that applied to twos.

They will have a lovely meringue-like crust on the top (this is why we beat the eggs to within an inch of their lives) and be deliciously sweet and chewy and coconutty on the inside.

Almost like a coconut marshmallow.

They keep just fine in a container on the counter, and whatever you do, don't spread dolce de leche on top of them.

And omg do NOT use Taneasha's lime sugar. Lime? In your coconut?