Bread pudding is all dressed up for the holidays with apples, dried cranberries and a warm, rum-spiked cream sauce. This Christmas Bread Pudding is a festive, super comforting dessert.
My husband was convinced he didn’t like bread pudding. I’m using the past tense here because he tried this one and he is officially a bread pudding convert. I knew as soon as he took one bite of this luscious version he’d be won over, and I was right.
Apples and dried cranberries add a festive touch and the cream sauce – oh, help me, the cream sauce! It’s spiked with a little spiced rum and nutmeg and it is absolutely divine. This cozy dessert totally brings on that Dickens, Christmas Carol, old-timey English vibe which makes it so perfect for the holidays.
Table of contents
Ingredient Notes
- Bread: The basis of all bread puddings is BREAD! I went with a loaf of French bread but any sturdy bread would work. Challah and brioche are nice choices. Avoid sliced sandwich bread which can become too mushy. Use a loaf instead so you can cut thick slices to cube like in the photo above. I had a little deja vu since the first step of this recipe is precisely the same as my Crock-Pot Stuffing recipe.
- Fruit: You’ll need a sweet-tart apple, like Fuji, Gala, or Honeycrisp and some dried cranberries (Craisins).
- Dairy: For the bread pudding, I use equal amounts 2% milk and heavy cream because that is what I usually have in my fridge at this time of year. If you happen to have half-and-half on hand you can substitute it here. For the silkiest, tastiest sauce, I recommend using all heavy cream or half-and-half.
- Spiced rum: Instead of investing in a whole bottle, you can pick up a airline sized bottle or “nip” of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum at the liquor store. It adds such nice flavor to this sauce and the filling for my Eggnog Thumbprint Cookies. You can substitute rum extract or vanilla extract if you’d prefer a booze-free sauce but The Captain does something very nice to this sauce. And, it’s ony 1 tablespoon… and it’s Christmas!
- For the rest: Eggs, granulated sugar, pure vanilla extract, ground nutmeg, and a little cornstarch to add some body to the sauce.
How to Make Christmas Bread Pudding
This is a quick overview of how to make this recipe. You’ll find detailed instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Place the cubed bread on a rimmed baking sheet and pop it in a 350 degree F oven for about 5 minutes until it is toasty.
- Transfer the toasted bread cubes to a large mixing bowl and add the chopped apple and dried cranberries.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla extract until the sugar has dissolved.
- Pour the cream mixture over the bread cube mixture, stirring until all of the bread is completely saturated.
- Transfer the bread pudding to a baking dish that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray.
- And, now it’s time for the “bain-marie”. You’ll need a deep pan that is a bit larger than your baking dish. Place the baking dish into the pan and then carefully add water to the pan, around the baking dish, until it rises to about the mid-point.
Bain-marie is just a fancy term for “water bath”, a method of baking delicate items like custards. This method helps prevent curdling and ensures that custards will have a silky, creamy texture. It is also an important step in baking cheesecakes to help prevent cracks.
Bread Pudding Baking Tips
- Bake the bread pudding according to the recipe directions (see recipe card below), checking the water level periodically and adding more, if necessary.
- Check for doneness by lightly pressing the center of the pudding. No wet custard should seep to the top and a knife inserted in the center should come out clean. A slighty jiggly center is fine since it will set up more as it rests, but If it’s still wet and very soggy, let it bake a little longer.
For the Rum Cream Sauce
- Whisk together the cream or half-and-half, cornstarch, and sugar, in a heavy saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and mixture is just slightly thickened.
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the spiced rum (or extract) and nutmeg.
- Stir to combine the sauce well. Serve the sauce warm, spooned over servings of the bread pudding.
Bread pudding sauces are typically thin, not thick. I’ve added a few teaspoons of cornstarch to the sauce just to create a little body but this is intended to be a thin sauce. A thin, decadent, and wildly delicious sauce.
Storage and Reheating Tips
For the Bread Pudding:
- Refrigerate: Place leftover bread pudding in an airtight container store it in the refrigerator for up 4 to 5 days.
- Freeze: Wrap individual portions of bread pudding in plastic wrap and then foil, or place them in a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
- Reheating: Reheat in the microwave in short intervals or in the oven at 350 degrees F until warmed through. Cover with foil if reheating in the oven to prevent it from drying out.
For the Rum Cream Sauce:
- Refrigerate: Pour the sauce into a jar or airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: I don’t usually recommend freezing cream sauces as they can take on an undesirable texture when thawed. But, if you’d like to try it, freeze the sauce in small portions in an airtight container or silicone ice cube tray. Freeze for up to 2 months and thaw in the fridge before warming.
- Reheating: Reheat gently on the stovetop over low heat or in the microwave, stirring frequently to maintain a smooth texture.
I hope this recipe helps you have a festive, warm and cozy holiday season!
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Christmas Bread Pudding
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
- 6 cups bread cubes, I used about ¾ of a 1 pound loaf French bread
- 1 medium apple, like fuji, gala, or honeycrisp
- ½ cup dried cranberries
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup 2% milk, see notes below
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream, see notes below
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Spiced Rum Cream Sauce
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream or half-and-half
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon spiced rum, like Captain Morgan, omit if using extract
- 1 teaspoon rum or vanilla extract, omit if using spiced rum
- Dash ground nutmeg
Instructions
For the Bread Pudding
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 2-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set it aside.
- Place the bread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, 5 to 7 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the toasted bread cubes, apples and cranberries. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Pour the wet mixture over the bread mixture and mix until well combined. Transfer to the prepared baking dish.
- Place the baking dish inside a deep, large casserole dish or roasting pan. Fill the larger pan with water about halfway up the sides of the baking dish. Bake at 350 F degrees, checking periodically and adding more water if necessary. After 50 minutes, gently press down on the center of the pudding. If wet custard seeps to the top, let it bake for an additional 5 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out mostly clean.
For the Spiced Rum Cream Sauce
- Whisk together the cream or half-and-half, cornstarch, and sugar, in a heavy saucepan. Cook and stir over MEDIUM heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is just slightly thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in the spiced rum (or extract) and nutmeg. Serve the sauce warm spooned over servings of the bread pudding.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
More Christmas Treats
This post was originally published on December 16, 2014. It has been updated with new text and images.
I cut down the sugar to half portion and used normal wholemeal bread and it still turned out yummy. Thank you for the recipe!
Absolutely amazing! My family loved your recipe, however I added a tablespoon of cinnamon and it was Deffinately a hit!❤
Well, that drives a stake through the heart of my intention to go full paleo! New Year’s Day dinner dessert, here we come!
Good luck with the paleo diet. I know several people who’ve done it successfully and are loving it. Enjoy the bread pudding – glad you’re going to indulge 🙂
Very good bread pudding! Will have it for Christmas eve dinner ! I got a loaf of GLUTEN FREE BREAD FROM WholeFoods! Very Good !
We love bread pudding in our house and this looks amazing! I think I will make this for our Christmas Eve get together.
Hi Beckie! I hope you try it. It was a big hit around here. Merry Christmas 🙂