Butterscotch Pecan Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is a warm, delicious comfort-food type dessert.  Perfect for cold, winter evenings.  And it's a fantastic desert to serve if you are hosting a dinner party because you can make it the night before and cook it while you are eating.

This version of bread pudding features pecan and butterscotch which adds to the sweetness and gives the dessert a crunchy, candied texture.  Double yum.

Ingredients
1/2 lb of french bread
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of sugar + 1 tablespoon of sugar
3 eggs
2 cups of heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons of bourbon
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of pecans
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1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of light corn syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1/2 tablespoon of bourbon

Preparation
1.  Cut up the french bread into cubes or tear bread apart into small pieces.

 
2.  Melt the butter in a small bowl and mix in 1 tablespoon of sugar.

 
3.  Drizzle the butter/sugar mixture over the bread pieces.

4.  Beat eggs and 3/4 cup of sugar with a blender on medium speed for about 3 minutes until fluffy.  

5.  Add vanilla, cream and bourbon to the egg and sugar mixture and whisk together until blended.

6.  Chop the pecans into smaller pieces.

 
7.  Add the bread pieces and pecans to the bowl with the eggs/sugar/vanilla/cream/bourbon.  Stir to mix ingredients together with a spoon until all the bread pieces are mixed in.

8.  Pour the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish, cover with foil and let sit in the refrigerator overnight to soak bread.

 
9.  The next day, preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes until golden brown.  While the pudding is cooking, make the butterscotch sauce.

10.  Butterscotch Sauce:  Bring brown sugar, syrup, and butter to a boil over medium high heat until sugar is dissolved and until it becomes 'caramelized' - about 3 minutes.

11.  Remove from heat.  Whisk in cream and bourbon.  

12.  Let cool.  If necessary, cover and refrigerate, warming again prior to serving.  

13.  Cut a piece of the bread pudding, drizzle with butterscotch sauce.  Serve!