Eggnog Bread Pudding with Cranberry Sauce

Christmas Day was the first time I have ever tried bread pudding. Can you believe that? It never sounded good to me. My two brothers love it. One of them blogs about it frequently here. Only one of them could attend my Christmas dinner and it is because of his love for bread pudding that I thought I would give this a go. I am now converted to bread pudding as well. THIS WAS TASTY! I love eggnog. The sweetness of the pudding combined with the sweet tart of the sauce was sort of a genius combination. I am sort of patting myself on the back for this one. Let me know if you try it!


Ingredients:
1 loaf stale French bread
1 quart eggnog (I used vanilla flavored eggnog)
3 eggs
2 Tbsp. Vanilla
1 C. raisins ( I omitted the raisins, but thought about using craisens)
1/2 C. sugar
Directions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan. In a large mixing bowl, crumble the bread and pour the eggnog over it, letting it sit until bread is soft, at least 2 hours. In a smaller bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla and stir into the bread and eggnog mixture. Add the raisins and mix well.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until knife comes out clean. Let cool before cutting.


Cranberry Butterscotch Sauce

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/2 Jar of butterscotch sauce (found in the ice cream toppings section)

Directions:
Cook sugar in a dry 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork or flat whisk, until sugar is melted and turns a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully add cranberries and water (caramel will harden and vigorously steam). Simmer over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is completely dissolved, then pour syrup through a very fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, pressing hard on solids. Let cool. Add 1/2 Jar or more to taste of butterscotch sauce. Top bread pudding with whip cream and then sauce.