Bread pudding, made extra delicious with Clumpies
The only good reason to let a pint of Clumpies ice cream melt is to use it for a delicious dessert. If you can resist devouring the pint, you’ll have the perfect sauce for baking a delectable bread pudding.
Bread pudding is a soft and creamy pastry made of bread and custard. Typically, a custard sauce like crème anglaise is used—a mixture of milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla bean—but many opt to use ice cream since it’s pretty much crème anglaise in frozen form. And melting ice cream is a lot easier than mixing egg yolks without scrambling them.
Bread pudding is popular not only because it’s easy to make, but because its ingredients are highly customizable. Originally a ‘poor man’s pudding,’ this English pastry dates back to the 11th century, when it was made from scraps because many cooks refused to let any food go to waste. They found that stale bread was great at retaining moisture, which was great for baking, so they doused it in hot water and whatever ingredients or seasonings they had. This later evolved to include a tasty custard (pudding). An official recipe was first published in a 1728 cookbook by Eliza Smith called “The Compleat Housewife.” Her method of preparation was very similar to the way bread pudding is made today.
Bread pudding may trace its roots to medieval times, but there’s nothing wrong with adding modern twists. Clumpies’ Vanilla Bean ice cream is perfect for bread pudding, as it’s a custard-style ice cream that is churned with pure Ugandan vanilla beans offering the perfect flavor profile. Pick up a pint of this delicious ice cream along with other Classic Flavors at one of our three Chattanooga Scoop Shops: Northshore, St. Elmo, or Southside—or have it shipped to your doorstep.
Keeping yourself from devouring the pint is perhaps the hardest step of the recipe to follow. Here are the ingredients you need to make Clumpies’ ice cream bread pudding:
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1 pint of Clumpies Ice Cream, melted
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340 grams of stale challah or brioche, cubed in 1-inch cubes
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3 eggs
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4 ounces of milk, whole
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1 teaspoon of almond extract
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1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
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40 grams of sugar
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2 ounces of butter
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¼ teaspoon of salt
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¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
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2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar for topping
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Tools:
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8x8 pan
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Mixing bowl
Preparation
Move your ice cream pint from the freezer to your fridge at least four hours in advance—or overnight—to guarantee you have a liquid pint.
Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Next, melt the butter and set it aside to cool.
Next, take your bread and cube it. This means shaping bread pieces into roughly 1-inch squares. After cubing, toast the bread pieces for about five minutes or until they’re lightly golden around the edges. Then set the pieces aside to cool.
Mixing
Pour your melted Clumpies ice cream into a mixing bowl along with the melted butter, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla, and almond. Toss the mixture thoroughly until it’s combined.
Baking
Place the bread pieces into a pan that’s lined with parchment paper and cover it with the bread mixture. For a final touch, sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the pieces. Finally, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.
You’ll soon be enveloped by the sweet smell of warm vanilla and toasted, buttery bread. Let the pieces cool slightly, then enjoy.
The ice cream bread pudding should taste sweet, but not too sweet. Its custard should be thick and creamy with a lightly crisped outer layer. As for the toasted bread, aim for a soft texture, not crunchy.
Bread pudding is a great base recipe for adding your own spices or extracts, so get creative! For example, you can swap the Vanilla Bean ice cream with Spiked Eggnog, one of our Featured Flavors this holiday season. This festive flavor delivers a rum-spiked kick, blending vanilla-freckled custard ice cream with cinnamon, nutmeg, and a heavy pour of sliced rum.
For some extra holiday fun (that's also easy to make), try a sorbet with sparkling wine or cider poured over the top. Clumpies’ Raspberry Sorbet or Strawberry Hibiscus Sorbet adds a tart and tangy taste with every bite.
The mouthwatering taste of these sweet creations is best made with Clumpies ice cream. Every pint of our handcrafted ice cream is churned nine gallons at a time in Chattanooga. From our small-batch kitchen at the foot of Lookout Mountain, we pasteurize our ice cream base and cream and use locally-sourced inclusions when possible. The result: the best ice cream in all of Tennessee.
Swing by our Chattanooga Scoop Shops to choose from a variety of pints or order a Pint Pack online, which features six select handcrafted pints packaged and shipped straight to your door. Build your own assortment by selecting six of our nearly 30 flavors, or choose a curated Pint Pack like our Holiday Cheer Pint Pack, available for a limited time. Each Pint Pack is packaged with dry ice in recyclable materials and shipped anywhere across the continental U.S. in just two days or dropped off for local delivery.
Though it feels oh so wrong to let a pint of Clumpies melt, it’s absolutely allowed when used for your special homemade dessert this holiday season. Go with a fun, festive and easy-to-bake ice cream bread pudding this Christmas with the one-of-kind taste of Clumpies Ice Cream Co.