Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

I found this recipe on Culinary Infatuation. I wanted to make bread pudding for my Father-in-law for Father's Day. This is a great classic recipe. I didn't think I liked bread pudding, but it smelled so good when I was baking it that I wanted to try it myself! When I made it for my Father-in-law, I made it as written, but substituted rum for the whiskey in the sauce and also used vanilla bean pods in the sauce while it was cooking. Instead of French bread I used a "Beer Wheat" bread-it is a sweet, dense white bread.When I made this for us, I was out of cinnamon and just used 1 t. of pumpkin pie spice. And for our pudding I made my caramel sauce (also below). Both sauces are great with this pudding. I encourage you to try either or...both!

Bread Pudding

• 5 cups day old french bread cut into 1 inch cubes
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/2 tsp.)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/3 cup raisins

Whiskey sauce

• 1 cup Heavy Cream
• 1/2 Tbsp. Corn Starch
• 1 Tbsp. Water
• 3 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1/4 cup Rum or Whiskey
  

To make the bread pudding, first preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8" square baking pan. Combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs until smooth, then work in the heavy cream. Add the vanilla, then the bread cubes. Allow bread to soak up custard.
Place the raisins in a greased pan. Top with the egg mixture, which prevents the raisins from burning. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the pudding has a golden brown color and is firm to the touch. If a toothpick inserted in the pudding comes out clean, it is done. The mixture of pudding should be nice and moist, not runny or dry. Cool to room temperature.
To make the whiskey sauce, place the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Whisk corn starch and water together, and add to cream while whisking. Bring to a boil. Whisk and let simmer for a few seconds, taking care not to burn the mixture on the bottom. Remove from heat.
Stir in the sugar and the bourbon. Taste to make sure the sauce has a thick consistency, a sufficiently sweet taste, and a good bourbon flavor. Cool to room temperature.

Caramel Sauce

1/4 c. butter

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/3 c. heavy cream

1 t. vanilla

Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Add sugar and whisk until well combined. Add cream and whisk about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla.