NuAwlins Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Here is one of our signature dishes. It is one of our most requested desserts. We grew up having bread pudding at various restaurants in New Orleans. Some were simple and others complex. I like the simple straightforward kind which is represented below. Of course you can add things like raisins, fruit, and other flavored sauces. In fact the picture posted has caramel flavored sauce. This is a great basic recipe for you to experiment with flavors. Go and do and report back!!
Serves 15

ADVANCE INGREDIENT PREP
1 ¼ Cup Pecan Pieces
1 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
¼ Teaspoon salt
TOPPING
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
¼ Cup Butter, softened
1 Cups Pecan Pieces (part of the 1 ¼ cup)
PUDDING
2 Cups Sugar
5 Large Eggs, beaten
2 Cups Milk
2 Teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract *
1 Teaspoons Pure Almond Extract *
1 ½ Loaves French Bread, cubed
SAUCE
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoons Cornstarch
½ Cup Sugar
1 Cups Milk
½ Tablespoon Orange Zest *
1 teaspoon gelified rum *
GARNISH
¼ Cup Pecan Pieces (part of the 1 ¼ cup)

INGREDIENT PREP
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
On a baking sheet, spread 1 1/4 cup pecan pieces in single layer.
Bake in oven for approximately 10 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
TOPPING
In a small bowl, mix ingredients together with a fork and set aside.
PUDDING
In large bowl, whisk eggs, then incorporate sugar, and then add milk, vanilla and almond extracts.
Cube bread and put cubes into milk mixture, toss to moisten all cubes and let set for at least 10 minutes, tossing occaisionally.
Pour bread mixture into prepared pan.
Sprinkle with Topping mixture and bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
SAUCE
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.
In a small bowl whisk together sugar cornstarch, then mix into butter.
Pour in milk, add orange zest, and cook stirring frequently until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from heat and add rum.
Pour sauce over hot pudding.
GARNISH
Sprinkle ¼ cup pecan pieces over top.

HEALTHY SLANT - Don't even think about it.
*RESOURCES:
Pure Vanilla Extract - FoodieAffair.com
Pure Almond Extract - FoodieAffair.com
Gelified Rum - FoodieAffair.com
Orange Zest - FoodieAffair.com