Gingerbread Bread Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

I have had a couple of requests for my gingerbread bread pudding w/butterscotch sauce recipe so here it is. Although it is pretty easy, it requires a few days advance planning and baking.

5 days in advance, or as many as you want, soak 1/3 cup raisins in enough cognac to cover. Stir every day. The raisins will plump up a bit and absorb the cognac.

One or two days in advance, bake the gingerbread. When completely cool, slice in half width-wise and then cut into about 1" cubes. Let sit out on a cookie sheet to dry out a bit. This drying out will allow the gingerbread to soak up the custard before baking.

Gingerbread
Cream 1/2 cup butter with 1/2 cup sugar until light. Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup molasses and beat thoroughly. Sift together 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg. Add alternately to creamed mixture with 1/2 cup very hot tap water, beating well after each addition. Bake in a greased 8" X 8" square pan at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until done. Don't under bake.

To assemble bread pudding, lightly butter the inside of a 2 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine 4 eggs with 1/3 cup granulated white sugar and 3 cups half-and-half. Finely chop 3-4 large pieces of Crystallized Ginger. I like Reeds because they use baby ginger root and it is less fibrous. Place 1/2 gingerbread cubes in the baking dish. Sprinkle half the raisins and half the chopped ginger root over the gingerbread. Repeat with the second half of the gingerbread, raisins and ginger root. Pour egg mixture slowly over the gingerbread cubes. Press down a bit on the top to get the cubes to soak up the egg mixture. Place baking dish in a larger pan. Pour hot water into larger pan to about 1" deep. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-70 minutes or until a butter knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and refrigerate or serve warm.

Butterscotch Sauce

I found this recipe on a website and rather than write all the directions down here, I am providing a link. There is a great explanation and photos to reference. I scaled back the vanilla and salt to about 3/4 Tablespoon each. Adjust to your taste.

ButterscotchSauce

I would like to thank everyone for their compliments on my desert. I love to bake and finding an appreciative audience is a wonderful thing!