Pear Bread Pudding

My great grandmother made bread pudding all the time. It was a standard dessert, and I can pick it out by smell alone.
I have never tried making it myself, which of course, translates into "I HAVE to make one, just to say I can".
What is the problem with all this? There is not one single person in my house that will eat bread pudding.
Hm.

Problem solved. I made it for last Easter and brought it to my family's get together.
They all ate the pudding (as we watched on) and gave rave reviews. Yay!

Later that evening, my Nana called me to tell me that she ate more of the bread pudding than she did anything else that day. A few of you know how much those words mean to me.

Notable mention: I went to 4 stores looking for pear brandy. I finally came across it, and the only bottle they had was $40. Seriously? For something I am going to need so little of? The cheap me wouldn't let the chef me buy it. I settled on a caramel apple liquor, thinking the flavors would blend well with the pears. It is my understanding that it did.

Ingredients:

¼ Cup brown sugar

¼ Cup white sugar

1 ¼ Cup all purpose flour

1 Tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tsp salt

½ Cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

8 Eggs

1 Cup white sugar

1 Cup half and half cream

1 Tsp vanilla extract

¼ Cup pear brandy

½ Tsp salt

2 (1 lb) loaves sliced artisan bread, cut into ¾ inch strips with crusts removed

4 Pears, peeled, cored and sliced

2 Cups heavy cream

1 pinch ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Mix in the butter and 1 tablespoon of vanilla just until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, 1 cup white sugar, half-and-half, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, pear brandy and salt.
4. Line the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish with a layer of bread. Top with a layer of pear. Pour about 1/4 of the custard over the layers followed by about 1/3 of the heavy cream. Sprinkle with some of the crumb topping. Repeat layers until you are out of ingredients, ending with the crumb topping on top. Press down on the layers as needed to help them absorb the liquid. Cover the pan with parchment paper then seal with aluminum foil. Place another baking pan on top or two dinner plates to keep it from puffing while it bakes.

Print

Um, we can ignore the papers on top of my microwave, right?

Adapted from: Here

This recipe shared with: Love Bakes Good Cakes, My Personal Accent, Sugar and Dots, The Country Cook, A Peek Into My Paradise,  Missy Homemaker, Thirty Handmade Days, Cooking with Curls, The Better Baker, Will Cook for Smiles, The Grits Blog, Dessert Now Dinner Later, Your Homebased Mom, The Chicken Chick, and The Best Blog Recipes