Leftover Bread Bread Pudding

I used to host ladies' coffee parties, and I would often serve tea sandwiches. Well, I would always have tons of leftover bread crusts after making the sandwiches and thought it was so wasteful to just toss them. So I devised a way to make use of them. I most often used plain old plastic sandwich white bread for those tea sandwiches, so that is usually what I use in this recipe.(It is also just great using more than the crusts, of course.) A great way to use up extra bread. There is no sauce included with this recipe..I prefer it plain or drizzled with just a bit of syrup. You can use other types of dried fruit if you like, such as dried berries and different jelly, just make sure the jelly isn't terribly oversweet.

• Ready In: 1 hr
• Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 3  cups  white bread (about 4 slices, cubed) or 3  cups  cinnamon raisin bread (about 4 slices, cubed)
• 3  large eggs
• 1 3⁄4 cups milk
• 1⁄4-1⁄3 cup orange marmalade
• 1⁄4 cup granulated sugar
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄3 cup raisins

Directions

1. Cut or tear bread into 2" cubes and place on a baking sheet.
2. Pop them into a preheated 325 F oven for just a few minutes (keep checking them),just to barely toast them(the idea is to dry out the bread a bit so that it doesn't all turn to mush later in the pudding).
3. Set the bread cubes aside to cool when they are done.
4. Using a whisk, beat together eggs, milk, marmalade, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
5. Place the bread cubes into an ungreased 8 1/2" round deep baking dish.
6. Sprinkle raisins over the top, then pour the egg mixture over all.
7. Bake at 325 F for 40 minutes or untila knife inserted near the center comes out clean (not gloppy) and the custard seems set.
8. Cool slightly before serving and chill the leftovers.