Whole Wheat Bread Pudding

Bread pudding reminds me of my dad.  He always seemed to make something out of nothing in the kitchen and was very resourceful in that way.  I am like that now, thanks to him.  He made this a lot when I was young.  I had a loaf of stale bread, and hate wasting food, so I thought I'd make this for my son for dessert tonight.  I made savory bread pudding at Christmas that was fantastic and more my thing.

I dried the bread out on a sheet pan until I was ready to assemble.  What I used:

• 8 slices stale whole wheat bread, cubed
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup dried tart Montmorency cherries
• 1/2 cup pecans, slightly crushed with mallet
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 cup organic sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg, grated on a microplane
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Melt butter in 9" x 9" casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. Add bread cubes, cherries, pecans and raisins; toss to coat.

Beat eggs slightly in bowl. Add milk, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

Mix well with a whisk.  Pour over bread cubes; mash down until soaked in.

Bake about 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.

I served with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sundae syrup.

Son's first bite was, "OMG, YUMMY!"  That was a seal of approval.  A good thing happened with stale bread.  😋