Calling All Cardiologists…
Since jelly doughnuts have been the topic the last many days, it only seems fitting that I re-post this recipe, for leftover jelly doughnut bread pudding. I know, I know, “over the top” doesn’t begin to describe a preparation like this…heavy cream plus sugar plus egg yolks plus jelly doughnuts…my blood pressure goes up just reading the ingredients list. I’d say I’m submitting this for archival purposes only, but then you never know when nuclear war might break out and you find yourself with a box of day-old doughnuts. Oh well. Honey, get the oven on.
Incidentally, this recipe was originally published in The New York Times, the newspaper of record for a city whose health department has cracked down hard on everything from trans fats to fast food restaurants to salt. That much attempted interference in people’s diets, I believe, makes recipes like this inevitable.
14 jelly doughnuts
3 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
8 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Butter, for greasing pan.
Preheat your oven to 325. Whisk cream, milk, 1 1/2 cups sugar, eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Whisk to blend. Put a large pot of water on the stove top and bring to the boil.
With a bread knife, cut doughnuts into 1/4-inch slices. Butter a 9-by-12-inch baking pan and sprinkle with sugar. Pour 1/2 inch of the cream mixture into the pan. Put in a layer of sliced doughnuts, overlapping them slightly. Top with another layer, pressing them down slightly to moisten. Top with a small amount of the cream mixture.
Add 2 more layers of sliced doughnuts, pouring the remaining custard mixture evenly over top. Press down gently with a spoon to moisten all the doughnuts, and sprinkle with a bit more sugar. Cover the baking pan tightly with foil and place it in a larger pan (like a roasting pan). Carefully add boiling water until the water comes three-quarters of the way up the sides of the baking pan.
Bake for 1 hour and 50 minutes, then remove the foil and continue to bake until top is golden, about another 15 minutes. Turn off oven, open door slightly, and leave in oven for an additional 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.