Pudding knows no season. Pudding is welcome any time of year. But cooked and baked puddings have an edge in the winter. Warm and comforting stovetop caramel bread pudding and German rice pudding will fill your home with the cozy, sweet scents of caramel and cinnamon as they cook. Caramel and cinnamon are scents for all seasons, but they are at their most intoxicating in the winter, when the scent of spring breezes through open windows is not an option.
These Caramel Bread Pudding and German Rice Pudding recipes come from Great Home Cooking In America (1976) by the Food Editors of Farm Journal. Most of the recipes in this book are American staples by way of our immigrant heritage. “This book gives your recipes that originated in all parts of the world and which combine to make the American bill-of-fare so varied,” says the jacket copy.
The book is thoughtfully written, with short introductions to give context to recipes. Most of the recipes are rib-sticking and straight forward, with common ingredients and occasional short cuts like canned vegetables and condensed soup. There are a few color photos, but the appearance of the finished recipe is left to the imagination most of the time. And yeah, it has some dated language.
Both Caramel Bread Pudding and German Rice Pudding are claimed to be passed down in German-American families. We can believe it, both are rich and creamy with the kind of flavors you’d expect German desserts to have.
Most bread puddings are baked, but this Caramel Bread Pudding is cooked entirely on the stovetop in a double boiler, cooking long and slow over simmering water. Make sure you don’t simmer your pan dry, said someone who has simmered her pan dry. It couldn’t be much simpler, layer some brown sugar and bread cubes, pour over a sweet egg and milk and brown sugar mixture, find something to do for an hour, then get your bowl and spoon ready.
Not exactly sure what makes this German Rice Pudding other than that the recipe was handed down from German origins, but it is definitely a classic Americana recipe. Like the Caramel Bread Pudding, it’s easy and it cooks on the stovetop. We are extremely open minded about rice pudding temperature. Warm or cold, either is fine with us.
Caramel Bread Pudding and German Rice Pudding are good any time of year. Both are low cooking effort, maximum taste return. And both will make your belly sigh with appreciation. Which recipe makes your tastebuds fire?
Farm Journal FYI: First published in 1877 as an eight page monthly newsletter, Farm Journal is still around. After a near death experience in 1935, new owners and a new publisher revived the publication, pushing to a peak of 2.8 million subscribers in 1955. It’s still mailed 13 times a year to 335,000 subscribers, per their website.
