This is an amazing dessert- one your guests will talk about for months to come!

Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 loaves of brioche, stale bread, Challah, or French bread

2 cups of ½ & ½

1 cup heavy cream

4 large eggs

1 cup + ¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a large metal bowl, tear the bread up into small quarter-sized chunks.

In a separate bowl combine the 1/2 & 1/2, heavy cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and sugar and salt. Mix well with a whisk until all of the ingredients are combined.

Pour the wet mixture over the bread chunks, and gently toss until all of the bread pieces are coated; let sit for 5 minutes.

Butter an oven-safe casserole dish, and coat the surface with a small amount of sugar. Place the bread mixture in the casserole dish, and put the remaining ¼ cup of granulated sugar on top of the bread pudding; bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until the surface is golden brown.

Whiskey Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup water

1 cup butter

3 beaten eggs

1 cup whiskey- Jack Daniels works well

1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions:

Place the granulated sugar and water in a sauce pot over medium heat. Stir continuously until the sugar dissolves, approximately 5 minutes. Continue to cook until the water dissolves and the mixture becomes thick, 3-5 additional minutes.

Place the butter in the sugar mixture, and melt completely. Remove from the heat.

With a ladle, add ½ cup of the cooked sugar mixture to the beaten eggs mixing continually with a whisk (this is called tempering). Be sure to keep stirring so that eggs don’t scramble. Add the sugar-egg mixture to the pot and return to the stove on medium heat and cook for 2 minutes.

Carefully add the whiskey to the cooked mixture stirring continually (if you have a gas range turn off the flame). Add the vanilla, and cook for 2 more minutes.

Place a serving of the bread pudding on a plate, and coat with the whiskey sauce.

Garnish with a cut strawberry and powdered sugar.