Good Old Bread Pudding

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 1 hr

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 1/2 cups bread, torn in small pieces (any kind will do, but homemade or any dense bread is terrific)
• 2 tablespoons margarine
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk
• 1 egg, well beaten
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 dash nutmeg
• 6 tablespoons butter or 6 tablespoons margarine
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk or 2 tablespoons cream
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• coconut (optional)
• chopped pecans (optional)

Recipe

• 1 spray a 9" square (or whatever you have) baking pan with cooking spray.
• 2 preheat oven to 350.
• 3 scald the milk in a large saucepan.
• 4 add the torn pieces of bread, and let stand a few minutes until bread is soft.
• 5 stir in remaining ingredients until well combined.
• 6 pour into baking dish and bake about 1 hour, or until knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
• 7 serve warm (preferred) or cold with hard sauce.
• 8 to make hard sauce: cream the butter, adding the sugar a little bit at a time.
• 9 stir in the cream and vanilla.
• 10 if using nuts or coconut, add at this time.
• 11 serve on top of warm pudding.