Are gingerbread cookies a holiday staple in your home? The kids love to decorate the men or create holiday villages made from the cookie cutter shapes but it can mean a lot of leftover gingerbread. I love the stuff but there’s only so much I can eat in a given time.
This holiday we hade an over abundant supply of the gingery goodness with a sweet delivery from our friends at Disney Interactive. The large gift was completely made of gingerbread and we enjoyed snacking on it for a few days but I was worried I would have to toss the rest before it went stale.
Then an idea occurred to me. What about making a Gingerbread Bread Pudding? I love bread pudding and the concept of using stale bread, extending the life of food that was otherwise destined for the bin. Why couldn’t near stale gingerbread work in its place? Well it can and delightfully so. I used this recipe for the basics (without the raisins).
Ingredients
- Leftover gingerbread
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups milk
- 6 eggs
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
I scraped off any icing from my gingerbread and then broke them into bite-sized pieces. I used enough to fill a 9×9 greased casserole dish, layering the pieces evenly throughout the whole pan.
Wish the milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl and pour the mixture over the gingerbread. My husband suggested substituting the whole milk with egg nog next time for a little extra holiday flavour.
Let the dish sit for about 5 minutes.
Bake for about 40-minutes at 350.
The end result was puffy soft gingerbread. I think I would make Chef in Training’s Vanilla Cream Sauce to pour over top. Instead we enjoyed a nice and easy substitute in the way of GayLea’s Coconut Whipped Cream. Yes you read that right.
It didn’t take long for our leftover gingerbread cookies to vanish in this form. I actually had to make a second batch to use up our gingerbread (and fulfill the family’s need for another slice).
How have you been using up leftover gingerbread this holiday?
Looks delicious, will have to try sometime! Thanks!
I wasn’t sure how it would turn out Freda but the gingerbread (even the stale pieces) were plump. They really did soak in the base nicely. A nice alternative to just chucking all those old gingerbread pieces too. Yes, I’ve done that.