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Berghoff Bourbon-Prune Bread Pudding

Victoria L. wrote in search of a top-notch bread pudding. Later that day, I found just the one, served at a booksigning at Chicago's historic Berghoff Cafe (founded in 1898.) Rich and studded with bourbon-soaked bits of prune, pretty squares of this pudding are a special-occasion-worthy dessert. (I got out my mom's Austrian china to do it justice :) Carlyn Berghoff includes the recipe in her newest book of storied cafe favorites: "The Berghoff Cafe Cookbook," co-authored with Nancy Ross Ryan. (See our "Books to Buy" section.)

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Makes 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
  • 10 cups cubed egg bread or challah, cut into 2-inch cubes
  • 1 ½ cups good-quality pitted prunes, quartered
  • 1/3 cup bourbon
  • 2 cups half-and-half
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 large eggs plus 2 large yolks
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
  1. Spread out bread cubes in a large baking pan and let dry, uncovered, overnight. Preheat oven to 350F. In a 1-qt bowl, combine prunes with bourbon. Cover and let soak 10 minutes. Strain prune mixture, reserving prunes and bourbon separately. In a large bowl, whisk together reserved bourbon, half-and-half, milk, eggs, yolks, ¼ cup of the sugar, vanilla, and almond extract until well combined. Butter a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish. Evenly distribute bread and prunes. Pour custard mixture over and soak for 15 minutes, tossing once to incorporate all of the custard. Bring 8 cups water to simmer over high heat. Set aside. Sprinkle sugar over top of the bread pudding. Cover the pudding baking dish with aluminum foil. Set baking dish into a larger roasting pan and pour hot water in larger pan until it reaches a 1-inch up the outside of the pudding baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until custard is set and is lightly browned and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 15 more minutes (45 minutes in all.) Serve warm, or cold, topped with lightly-sweetened whipped cream

A vintage recipe from historic Chicago restaurant, The Berghoff Cafe, this pudding harks back to old-world frugality. It's an elegant, spirited way to use day-old challah bread.
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