Antiguan Bread Pudding

If you happen to have a loaf or two left over, there is no better dessert than a luscious Antiguan bread pudding with spicy mango pineapple jam. Bread pudding is not just a great way to use up stale or day-old bread, but it's also a dessert that can easily be improved with some very Caribbean accents. This British-inspired dessert is a comfort meal that is anything but ordinary in Antigua. Cubed white bread, eggs, milk, spices including nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and ginger, and a spicy rum sauce topping are among the ingredients.

Tropical fruit and fruit jams are an ingenious way to elevate your bread pudding from mundane to crave-worthy. Mangoes and pineapples work well in puddings and are important fruits to the people of Antigua and Barbuda, as well as the Caribbean as a whole. Antigua is famous around the world for its Antigua Black Pineapple, a rare and unusually sweet species. Because the species is from the "Queen" group of pineapple types, it's a fitting crown for the twin islands.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ loaves wood oven bread (approximately 18 slices week-old bread), 1 cup coconut milk, 2 cups canned evaporated milk (can substitute with half and half), 3/4 cup brown sugar, 4 large eggs, 3 tablespoons grated coconut (optional), Bacchanal Pepper Sauce Spicy Mango Pineapple Jam (available online; ships nationwide in USA— if unavailable, substitute with jam of choice), 1/4 cup melted butter, ¼ cup raisins, ½ cup rum (to soak raisins), pinch cinnamon, pinch of salt, ½ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla essence, ¼ tsp lime zest

Instructions

• Soak raisins with 1/4 rum for 30 minutes, or until hydrated. Grease baking dish.
• Tear up loaves of bread into pieces and place in buttered dish.
• Pour melted butter over bread.
• In large bowl, combine evaporated milk, coconut milk, brown sugar, grated coconut, raisins, spices and vanilla essence.
• Whisk eggs lightly in separate bowl, then add to the milk mixture and whisk until fully combined.
• Pour mixture over bread.
• Then spread jam over entire pudding.
• Bake at 300°F for 30 minutes until golden brown.
• Can be served hot or cold on it’s own or with ice cream or whipped cream.