OLD SCHOOL RAISIN & CINNAMON PANDESAL PUDDING

Pudding is the kitchen miracle of turning dry bread into a scrumptious dessert.  

I've never enjoyed throwing away stale bread. There's always that guilt. My Lolo Greg, whenever he saw spilled rice on the table, would always remind my cousins and I of the hours of long work the farmers and mother nature gave to make sure the rice gets to our table. His is the voice I hear at the back of my head whenever I throw away something.

Here's a quick and easy recipe that makes use of old bread and would surely make Lolo Greg proud.

OLD SCHOOL RAISIN & CINNAMON PANDESAL PUDDING

 

Ingredients:

• 4 cups pandesal, torn into small pieces
• 1 cup brown Muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons salted butter
• 1 cup raisins, chopped
• 2 cups fresh milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons Confectioner's sugar, optional

Butter an 11x7-inch baking dish. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

Combine bread, cinnamon, and chopped raisins in a bowl. Toss to mix.

Combine milk, brown sugar, and butter. Stir gently to melt the butter and warm the milk.

Whisk eggs and add the vanilla in a separate bowl and quickly add in the milk mixture. Whisk gently until evenly blended. Pour over the bread mix and toss to make sure the bread absorbs the liquid.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. One way to check if it's done is to insert a knife near the center. If it comes out clean, your pudding is good to go.

You can sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top if you want to dress up the pudding a bit.

Leftover pandesal and Banana Raisin Pudding

I recently noticed that everyday, that there's always two pieces of left over pandesal from our daily ration. And trying to be a conscientious homemaker, I tried to make pudding out of these leftover. And to my dismay, I discovered that Pudding requires milk- whole, filled or evaporated. 

Not wanting to be derailed by this sticky problem, I decided to use an alternative - coffee creamer. And the resulting experiment turned out rather well. This recipe also uses a simple oven toaster, one that can get the heat up to at least 250°. I figured this is something that even a bachelor living in a condo unit can make since all the ingredients are available from the neighborhood convenience store.

So here it is ...the BANANA RAISIN PUDDING.

Ingredients:

-       1 banana, mushed up

-       1 egg

-       5 tablespoons coffee creamer diluted in 1/2cup hot water

-       2 pieces pandesal, cut into cubes

-       2 tbsps raisin

-       ¼ cup condensed milk (add as needed)

Add the raisins to the diluted coffee creamer as you let  it cool. Mix the mushed up banana with the diluted coffee creamer and raisins. Lightly beat 1 egg in a bowl. Add in the colled down coffee creamer, banana and raisin mixture. Add the pandesal cubes. Mix gently until the bread is soaked and has become mushy.

Pre-heat an oven toaster for 5 minutes (180-200 degrees).  Place your mixture in a foil pan. Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Once cooked, pour condensed milk as desired.