Butterscotch Bread Pudding

One of the girls on the Nest board hosted a recipe exchange where we all e-mailed her a recipe and then got one in return (anonymously). I got Butterscotch Bread Pudding (I still don't know who it belongs to - I hope they claim it!) and decided to make it for a San Diego Nest get-together/ornament exchange which is tonight.
Here are the results :)

This was my first time making bread pudding so I hope it tastes OK!

For the bread, I made a loaf of white bread using my bread machine. Can't beat home-made bread!

Ingredients:
3-4 cups day-old bread, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 cups milk
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 tsp. ground cinnamon (I added this just for kicks!)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9"x13" baking dish with Pam or grease with a little butter.

2. Gently mix the bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, butterscotch chips, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Pour this mixture into the prepared baking pan.
It should look something like this:















3. Bake the bread pudding in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until nearly set (it should wiggle a little when it is done). Can be served warm or cold.

Blondies

Confession: I have never even tried a blondie before but have been intrigued, if you will, by them for some time... maybe it's a blond thing? Anyway, I bought a bunch (ie: too many) butterscotch chips over the weekend and needed a way to use them.
I read some blondie recipes thinking they would require butterscotch chips only to find that they all said chocolate chips... well humph! I really wanted to use the butterscotch chips but figured a butterscotch-flavoured bar plus butterscotch chips would be a bit of butterscotch overload (I know, hard to imagine!) So, I sort of adjusted one to use both semi-sweet chocolate chips and some of the butterscotch chips. Here's what I ended up with:

This is enough for an 8- or 9-inch baking pan (mine is 8x8). It will yield about 18 bar cookies. You can double this if needed.

Ingredients:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (yeay! Ghiradelli were on sale!)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Grease an 8- or 9-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the brown sugar and butter over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. You will need to stir it constantly. Allow this to cool slightly before adding the egg (you do not want butterscotch scrambled eggs!). Stir in the egg and then add the vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda, and baking powder but do not over-mix. Fold in the nuts and chips.

2. Spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes (adjust the time to 25-30 if using a larger pan) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool slightly on a wire rack. Cut into bars while still slightly warm.

Reference:
I used several recipes to create this one! First, I found blondie recipes in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book as well as Baking Illustrated. I mostly used the BH&G book but consulted the Baking Illustrated to make sure I really didn't have to just sprinkle the nuts and chips on top of the un-baked bar mixture - sure enough, I could mix them in. I also found this recipe on BakingBlonde's Blonde Ambition in the Kitchen blog which suggested using butterscotch chips.















Happiness is a warm cookie and a glass of milk.