Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

I had a jar of orange marmalade in my pantry that was calling out to be used. So after looking on this ole Internets for some inspiration, I finally decided to come up with my own bread pudding creation. And oh man...is it ever good! I love plain bread pudding but the marmalade in this gives the whole thing another wonderful flavor element. It's just divine....it really is. If you don't care for orange marmalade, you can leave it out of the pudding and the sauce and the dish will be really good...but the marmalade is to DIE for!!!!! 
 
Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding



1 3/4 cups sugar
6 large beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup orange marmalade
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups cubed french bread


Topping

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup butter ~ softened
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Cube bread and place in a large bowl. Set aside.

Mix sugar, eggs, marmalade, vanilla, cream and milk in a medium bowl.

Pour over cubed bread and let sit for 10 minutes to allow bread to soak up the liquid.

In a medium bowl, stir together the brown sugar, butter and pecans.

Pour bread mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

Serve with Vanilla Orange Marmalade Sauce (recipe follows)

*Note: You can bake this in a 9x13 inch pan as stated OR you can put small amounts in ramekins for individual servings. Also...you can drizzle the sauce all over the bread pudding before serving, or serve it on the side.

Here's what you'll need for the bread pudding.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, milk, 

cream, marmalade and vanilla.

Cube the bread. I used 3/4 of a 

loaf of french bread. You'll need about 4 cups.

Pour the egg mixture over the bread.

Press the bread down into the liquid 

to make sure all the bread comes in 

contact with the egg mixture.

I put a piece of waxed paper on top 

of the bread then a pie plate on top 

 of the waxed paper to weight it down. 

Allow the bread to soak for about 10 minutes or so.

After the bread has soaked, pour 

it into your prepared 9x13 inch pan.

Mix up the topping ingredients. 

The butter, brown sugar and pecans.

Sprinkle that over the soaked bread.

Bake it up!!

Vanilla Orange Marmalade Sauce

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter ~ melted
1 egg, beaten
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup orange marmalade

Mix together the sugar, butter, egg, marmalade and vanilla in a saucepan over medium heat. Allow to cook on low for about 5 minutes or until sugar has melted.

Serve with bread pudding.

Now for the sauce. Here's 

what you'll need for that.

Combine everything in a medium saucepan.

Bring to a soft boil and stir while 

cooking for about 5 minutes.

Ummm...yeah. So, this is pretty awesome.