decadent bread pudding w/ heavenly rum sauce

How To Make decadent bread pudding w/ heavenly rum sauce

• Step 1
  For bread pudding: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Chop bread into 1/2 - 1 inch cubes. (I did about half of each to get a mixture of texture in the finished product. Also, I used french bread that was 5 days old, so very stale bread works just as well.) Set aside. In a LARGE mixing bowl, mix all of the pudding ingredients together well. (I let mine sit a little so the sugar began to dissolve, then I gave it another good stir before adding the bread.) Add the bread and toss to coat well. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes, then give it another good toss to evenly coat everything. Allow to sit another 15 minutes and toss again. Pour mixture into a LARGE casserole pan. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Note: I'm thinking I'm going to leave the nuts out next time. I wasn't too hot for them in this.
• Step 2
  For sauce: Add all ingredients to a saucepan and stir frequently until boils. Allow to boil for one minutes while stirring continuously. Remove from heat. Pour over bread pudding and allow to soak in, or serve over individual servings. I poured mine over the top. This makes a lot of sauce, you may not want to use it all if pouring over the top. Note: The baking soda gives the sauce a foamy texture, which I liked, but I found that you could also taste it in the sauce. I don't know if that was because I didn't let it cook long enough (it foamed up and was starting over the edge of my pan just as it began to boil), or if I used too much, so I will most likely leave it out all together next time. I originally used a full teaspoon, so I reduced that amount to half a teaspoon in the recipe. I recommend using the lesser amount if you choose to add it. Also, this sauce would be amazing over ice cream! I'm thinking leave out the baking soda and let it cook down until it thickens a little, for use over either, actually. YUM!!!
• Step 3
  P.S. For some reason it wouldn't let me post the full picture of the finished product, it cut it in half. So, what you see of the pan is only half. It really does make a HUGE pan. Be warned! LOL
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