Bread Pudding (Made with Challah)

At the Main Street Farmers' Market in Washington, PA, held every Thursday from 3-6 PM, The Wood Street Bread Company sells the most wonderful challah. It is a huge glossy braided loaf that the two of us cannot eat all of before it gets moldy-- it's made with no preservatives added. I usually take half of the loaf to work, where it gets eaten with no problem. This week I decided to freeze some cubes of challah to make bread pudding, and I am really glad I did. Yum-O! as one famous cook would say.

Here's the recipe:

1 # challah, cubed

8 lg eggs

3 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups sugar (white, brown or a combination of the two)

1 Tbsp good vanilla extract

1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1 cup raisins (or dried cherries)

Butter a 9x13 baking dish or spray with cooking spray.

Combine everything but the bread and raisins and mix well.

Add the bread and mix in, then the raisins.

Pour into the buttered dish and refrigerate 2 hours, or overnight.

When ready to bake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake uncovered 1 hour and 15 minutes. (A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.)

Serve warm or cold, with whipped cream if you want it really over the top.