Labne Bread Pudding

By now you should have noticed numerous posts using Karoun dairy products. Here’s another sent in by Bonnie Gross, my assistant on this project.

Bonnie wrote:
“In my continuing effort to make good use of the labne I still had, I made a bread pudding with it.
I had 3/4 loaf of good Italian bread that had become stale and more than a cup of leftover labne, so I decided to experiment with them both.
This turned out quite well: I made (a Cream Cheese Bread Pudding) recipe, but substituted labne for the cream cheese.”


Labne (Cream Cheese) Bread Pudding
Ingredients:
8 oz. labne (to replace the 8-oz cream cheese)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
10-11 cups white bread, cubed


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together labne and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs, mixing at medium speed until very smooth, then slowly blend in milk and vanilla extract. Dump all bread cubes into the bowl and press with a spatula to soak up the liquid. Pour into prepared pan and gently smooth into an even layer.
3. Bake for 30 minutes, until pudding springs back slightly when you touch the top and the edges begin to turn golden.
4. Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
*Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard sauce.

Bonnie added:
“I also added about 3/4 cup raisins, because I like bread pudding with raisins.
For the sauce, I made this bourbon sauce instead (oh my, so good, but, of course, what wouldn’t be good with all that butter plus bourbon?)”


Bourbon Sauce:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup Kentucky bourbon whiskey


Directions:
In a saucepan, melt butter; add sugar and egg, whisking to blend well. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens. (Do not allow to simmer, or it may curdle.) Whisk in bourbon to taste. Remove from heat. Whisk before serving. The sauce should be soft, creamy, and smooth.