White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce

By LLRedd

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups whipping cream 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup Irish whisky 6 eggs
• 9 T. sugar 2 large egg yolks
• ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 T. cold water 8oz, day-old French bread (11 cups)
• ¾ tsp. cornstarch 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups whole milk 3 oz. white chocolate chips

Preparation

Step 1

For the sauce: Combine cream, whisky, and sugar in a heavy small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from the vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to a simmer over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low. Mix 3 tablespoons of cold water and cornstarch in a bowl until smooth. Add to cream mixture; simmer until the sauce thickens slightly and leaves a path when the finger is drawn across the back of the spoon, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Strain the sauce into a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Keep chilled. For pudding, preheat the oven to 400. Whisk milk, sugar, eggs, yolks and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Mix in bread. Let stand for 20 minutes. Stir both chocolates into the bread mixture. Transfer to an 8inch square baking dish. Place baking dish in a large baking pan. Add enough hot water to pan to come 1 inch up the sides of the baking dish. Bake pudding until set, 1 hour. Remove dish from the water. Cool pudding slightly and serve warm with the chilled sauce.