Pineapple Blueberry Breakfast Bread Pudding

I made changes from the original Porch Swing French Toast recipe sent to me by my Aunt Suzy.
http://www.shenandoahgatewayfarm.blogspot.com/2014/07/porch-swing-french-toast.html   It was really good, but with the additions and changes I have decided it is a new recipe and in my arrogance, I have named it Pineapple Blueberry Breakfast Bread Pudding.

This is what I recently made for  some B&B guests.

 


Pineapple Blueberry Breakfast Bread Pudding

French or Italian loaf, cut into 1 inch cubes.
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 -1 1/2 cups blueberries
5 eggs
2/3 cup half and half
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
zest of one orange or 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
8 oz. crushed pineapple, one small can
1/2 cup chopped pecans  You will need more for the topping so chop up a cup of pecans

Topping

1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

Melt the butter in a small dish and pour it into a 8X8 baking dish.  Fill the half the dish with the cubed French or Italian loaf.  Place the blueberries over the bread.  Then cover the blueberries with the remaining bread.

 

Place the eggs in a large bowl and whisk with the half and half.  Add the sugar and whisk until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the OJ, zest, vanilla, nutmeg and pineapple and whisk a bit more.  Then mix in 1/2 cup of the chopped pecans.

 

Pour this mixture over the bread cubes.  Pour slowly or the egg mixture will spill over the side.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Make the Topping

 

Place the softened butter, corn syrup and brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Blend until smooth.  Drop by small lumps on top of the bread cubes.  Spread gently with the back of a spoon, until it mostly covers the top of the bread cubes.  Sprinkle with the rest of the pecans.

 

Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, remove the baking dish from the refrigerator and  allow warm up a tad.  Heat the oven to 350°.  Remove the covering and bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Let it sit for at least 15 minutes to set.  Serve warm.

 

Remember when you set out the plate to take a picture of this delicious concoction to let your room mate (husband) know, or he will walk by and take a bite.

 

Then you will have to check it and see if it is better than the last time you made it

 

Try to get one good picture before you lick the plate.

Porch Swing French Toast

My cousin Phillip and his wife Teresa came for a visit.  This was the perfect opportunity to try out a recipe sent to me from my Aunt Suzy.  It won a contest for a B&B recipe and I thought it might work for me at our B&B.  I made a few changes.  Some on purpose and one by necessity...from a shopping error.  But Aunt Suzy is Phillip's aunt also, so I figured he could take the risk along with me.  Poor Lee and Teresa were only along for the ride.

 


Variation on Porch Swing French Toast

2 Tablespoon butter
1 loaf French bread 
1 cup fresh blueberries  This was not part of the recipe, but I had about 1 cup and decided to use it up.

4 eggs
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if you can
1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 Tablespoon orange zest or 1/4 teaspoon orange extract

I must confess that I didn't add the orange zest.  I love citrus zest.  But I only bought one orange at the store and then sliced it up and put it in the Sangria I made for dinner. Oops.  So I used orange extract and hoped for the best.

Do you think I can pull out the slices and then zest them?

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

Topping
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 


The night before, melt butter ( I used the microwave)  and pour it into a 9X13 baking dish.  Spread it over the bottom of the dish.  The recipe called for 1 inch slices.  I did one inch cubes.  The store didn't have a full French loaf.  I bought twin loaves and used 1 loaf and about 1/2 of the other.

 

Place the cubes in the buttered dish and scatter the cup of blueberries on top of the bread, if you are using them. In fact, more than one cup of blueberries would be even better.

 

Whisk together the eggs and cream.  Then add the sugar and whisk. Next add the OJ, vanilla, nutmeg, orange zest (PLEASE don't forget the orange for zesting.) nuts and crushed pineapple and mix well. 

I know these pictures are dark.  I made this just before bedtime.

Poor the mixture over the bread.

 

Combine the softened butter, corn syrup and brown sugar. 

 

Spread it as best you can over the bread mixture.  I dropped lumps all over the top and the spread them around with the back of a spoon.

 

Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top, cover and refrigerate. 

 

Go to bed.

In the morning, heat the oven to 350°.  Remove the dish from the refrigerator and remove the plastic covering.  A VERY important step.  Let it sit on the counter to (mostly) warm up to room temperature and then bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

And now the pictures are too bright.  Some people are never satisfied.

It was really good and a hit with my guinea pigs...I mean, Phillip and Teresa.  Unless they were just being polite. 

 

I served it with scrambled eggs and bacon. 

 

The recipe said it served 6, but with the addition of eggs and bacon, I could have served 8 people easily.  In the future I will reduce the size of the baking dish to 8X8 and reduce the amount of bread to fit it.  I would keep the eggs and cream the same, as the dish was a bit dry on the edges and needed more liquid.  I will definitely make this in the future.  It was really good and the blueberries were excellent.