In an earlier post we talked about shoppin’ our closets, the pantry and fridge- working down what we have on hand. This week, we cleared out the pantry and found 3/4 of a loaf of raisin bread, some raisins, a can of evaporated milk and a jar of hot fudge sauce. In the south we love our bread puddings! Raisin Bread is almost perfect for a good bread pudding but how could we make this one different? Bread pudding usually has a hard sauce for the topping- we had the jar of Hot Fudge Sauce and who doesn’t like chocolate covered raisins? Hold the popcorn at the movies, give me some chocolate covered raisins! So, what about a hard sauce made with raisins, rum, and hot fudge sauce? We keep some ‘likker’ here just for medicinal and cooking purposes you know…whiskey, bourbon and rum are ‘must-haves’ in the southern kitchen, almost like strings of pearls and white blouses in a southern lady’s wardrobe, got have those accessories! We had plenty of eggs, milk, pure cane sugar and vanilla extract so we were set!
Camellia’s Cottage Raisin’ Cain Bread Pudding
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees if baking right away.
- Tear 3/4 loaf of raisin bread into large pieces- (we used Pepperidge Farm) in a large mixing bowl.
- In a Pyrex 4 cup measure, crack 4 large eggs, add one can of evaporated milk, 1/4 cup of brewed coffee, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 stick of melted and cooled butter, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
- With a whisk, mix the egg mixture until foamy, pour over raisin bread pieces and allow the mixture to set until the bread is completely soaked – about 15 minutes or you can refrigerate overnight.
- Butter a 9×12 glass baking dish. Pour in soaked bread mixture. This bread pudding will rise.
- Bake 30-40 minutes in hot oven. Do not over bake!
- Meanwhile soak 3/4 cup of raisins in 1 cup of dark rum (we used Bacardi Dark Puerto Rican Rum).
- Remove from oven when Bread Pudding is set and tops of bread are beginning to brown. Dot with more butter and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top- you can use plain sugar if you don’t have cinnamon sugar mixed up. We always have that in our pantry!
- Lightly drain the plumped rum raisins and drizzle the excess rum over the hot bread pudding. Don’t waste any of that hard stuff!
- Bread Puddings can be served hot or at room temperature, we let ours cool a bit while we prepared the hard sauce, Rum Raisin Hot Fudge Sauce, are you raisin’ cain yet? We never said this was going to be low cal…
Camellia’s Cottage Rum Raisin Hot Fudge Sauce
We had a jar of Hershey’s Hot Fudge Sauce which we heated in the microwave according to directions on the jar. We spooned it into a small saucepan and added the rum soaked raisins to chocolate sauce- now, how else are you gonna make hot fudge sauce into a ‘hard sauce’ without the ‘hard likker’?
Darlin’ you’re gonna want to keep this recipe on hand, even if you just spoon the sauce over ice cream! We topped our bread pudding with the Rum Raisin Hot Fudge Sauce, whipped cream and to make it healthy we added that sweet sprig of fresh mint!
Sugar Cane is grown in Alabama, that’s why we’re so sweet! Shoppin’ our pantry is going to be fun!
Love y’all, Camellia
”When we have suffered the losses that life brings… We know by experience to look for signs. Our instinct whispers in the small things, the gentle rain, a rainbow, a breeze warmed by the sun. The earth welcomes the seed which will sprout, the first tender leaves push up through the garden soil. Our souls begin to stir, knowing the seasons are turning again. Remembering the harsh lessons of winter; knowing full well that nothing on this earth lasts forever. Leaves wither, grass turns brown, and plants die down. Snow blankets the jeweled leaves of autumn -the soil is enriched. The earth is changing ever so quietly, as the days lengthen. We know, as sure as there is springtime -everything can begin again- a fresh start, bright, beautiful and new again. ‘With God all things are possible’.
I noticed when I was weeding the front beds today, that when I was yanking whole wads of them out, it felt more like being mad. When I eased the weeds out carefully I was more aware, slowin’ down does that! Weeding is a constant in gardening. By slowing down a bit, I had an odd sensation- something very akin to gratitude for the weeds, what?!? Yes you read that right! Weeds are place keepers in the soil to stall erosion, otherwise every downpour would muddy up the drainage ditches! These very place keepers caught my eye, before I pulled out those spiky things at the base of the irises a faint waft of garlic rose. I realized they were garlic chives! Probably a carryover from when I divided the irises! Garlic chives are not easy to find in garden centers, in fact they are highly prized herbs. Chopped and added to softened butter, garlic chives add something nothing else can- to bread, a baked potato, a crisp cracker or even melted over warm shrimp. I was delighted to find them since the other patch I have has almost played out. But they don’t look right where they are and it’s not time to dig iris tubers so they’re staying where they are! The beauty of garlic chives is in the Beholder’s Eye. Weeds may be ‘fine plants’ waiting to be discovered. Take a look at the Oxalis below-
An old gardener complained to me once, ‘I can’t ever get rid of that old Oxalis, its everywhere!’ I know he yanked out, rooted up every one he ever found, they were the bane of his existence in his garden! Years later I was working at a fine garden center, around St. Patrick’s Day potted up just as pretty as could be, were blooming Shamrocks! The common weed was elevated to a fine gift plant! And imagine my surprise, while working there, to find the bane of my lawn, Ajubaweed, was sold as a groundcover! It’s the Rule of the Beholder’s Eye. Right about now in my area, the daffodils have finished blooming but…the foliage is all flopped over; don’t just run a mower over them or weed-eat them all up. No, no, no, I’m going to show you a ‘love knot’ for the floppy foliage- 
Daffodils need the food in the foliage to come back strong next year! It doesn’t take long…just tie the long stems into knots and they will look tidied up! The ‘Moral of the Beholder’s Eye’ is this- how we view everything whether plants, events or people determines their value, their worth. There is no truer saying than ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. The greatest lessons can be learned on bended knees in a garden! So, put on your Beholder’s Eyeglasses and tell me what you find!
When I was a little girl, in early spring a man with a rigged up produce truck came to our neighborhood, with windows rolled down we could hear him as he called out…’Ber-ries, straw-ber-ries!’ It was an exciting sound, ‘Momma, Momma, it’s the strawberry man!’ We’d run to the road waving our arms for him to stop…gears grinding down he would roll to a perfect stop, so that the open wooden shelves could be seen. Little balsa wood pint boxes of perfect strawberries were displayed and exclaimed over. As we were dancing on tiptoe to get a better look, the strawberries would be bought- always more than we needed, always a few juicy ones that had to be eaten right away! To this very day, it is one of my most vivid childhood memories. As a young adult I was delighted to see strawberries growing in rich dark soil, the runners connecting the mother plants to their young…pale green berries hiding under leaves that looked like they had been cut with pinking shears., sweet white blossoms with sunny yellow centers, such a sweet sight! Two years ago, I decided to start my very own tiny patch, not for a big harvest more just for the fun of watching them grow and girl, let me tell you! There is nothing as sweet as a fresh picked, warmed by the sun strawberry ! Here in Alabama, it’s almost scandalous how right that groundhog was when he predicted an early Spring! I’ve been just dying to show y’all my little patch and how it’s coming along…
Camellia's Cottage 