Hot, and fresh, the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in the air, my Orange Snickerdoodle French Toast recipe topped with a scoop of rapidly melting vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of my Homemade Cranberry Sauce was out of this world good. Earlier in the day, my friend at work was talking about Snickerdoodle cookies and had my mouth was watering. I knew I was going to make a bread pudding last night with oranges and some stale baguettes I had leftover. But the idea of Snickerdoodle spices stuck with me and Orange Snickerdoodle sounded perfect. When I worked at the Four Seasons, we would use all the day-old croissants and Danishes, mixed with some chopped up brownies to make our bread pudding. The custard is easy to adjust to any size proportions, and can be flavored in any number of ways, Chocolate and Caramel, Rum Raisin, Apple Plum, and Banana with Pecans were some of my favorites.

When baking a custard, it’s important the cooking is gentle so you don’t burn the bottom. Luckily it is an easy technique called a ‘Bain Marie’ or water bath. The casserole dish is placed on a sheet pan in the oven, water is then placed on the sheet pan creating a barrier between the heat and the casserole dish. Since water will only reach a temperature of 212ºF, the bottom of the casserole is protected from the high heat and won’t burn.

More often than not, bread pudding is made with large diced bread, I used 2 baguettes and left them in slices rather than dicing them turning this into Orange Snickerdoodle French Toast rather than bread pudding. Croissants are great for bread pudding, and almost any stale bread will work, but if you are using any sort of sweet bread be sure to adjust the sugar content of the custard mix accordingly, there is such thing as too sweet.

Here is my Orange Snickerdoodle French Toast recipe:

INGREDIENTS for a 3-quart casserole:

• 8 Cups Bread, diced or sliced
• 8 Whole Eggs
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 4 Cups Half & Half
• 3 Oranges, Zest and Juice
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• ½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
• ½ Teaspoon Salt

Snickerdoodle Sprinkle Sugar (great for toast too)

• 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
• ½ Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

PROCESS:

-Preheat oven to 350ºF

-Add orange zest and juice to a large bowl, add the eggs and beat them thoroughly

-Add the spices (not the snickerdoodle sprinkle sugar) and sugar, beat thoroughly

-Add the half & half, mix to combine

-Place the bread into a 3-quart casserole then pour the custard over the top, let the bread absorb the custard for approximately 15 minutes until completely saturated

-Place the casserole dish on a large sheet pan in the oven

-Pour about 1 quart of warm water on the sheet pan to create a ‘Bain Marie’ this will protect the custard while baking.

-Depending on the material of your casserole dish, it can take anywhere from 1 hour to 1 ½ hour (thin metal pans will cook the bread pudding faster than thick ceramic ones)

-To check if it’s finished cooking, poke a hole in the center of the bread pudding with a knife to open it up a little, look inside towards the bottom of the casserole dish to see if it’s liquid or not, when it’s no longer liquid, it’s done.

-Sprinkle the Snickerdoodle Sprinkle Sugar over the top

-Serve warm with really soft almost melted vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of the Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Homemade Cranberry Sauce