slow cooker bread pudding

When Da and I got married in 1998, my mother gave us (among many other wonderful gifts) a large slow cooker. I have used it many times since. It is perfect for lazy days when I am not inclined to slave over a stove top to cook my pasta sauce.

As time went by, I realised that it would be useful to have a small slow cooker as well. Not only could we use it to brew herbs for one-time consumption, we could also use it to cook small portions of meals, just for the two of us. I happened to mention to my mother my desire for a small slow cooker and, bless my wonderful mother, she was so thoughtful that she bought us a small slow cooker as a gift.

Recently, I decided to get adventurous and cook bread pudding using my small slow cooker. I have made bread pudding before but always using my convection oven.

The bread pudding that I made using my slow cooker is sufficient to serve 3 persons (unless you are my little sister, LSD who is a very small eater, in which case the bread pudding is enough to serve 4 persons).

INGREDIENTS

4 cups bread (cubed)
1 cup low fat milk
2 eggs
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter (softened)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
1/8 tsp ground mixed spice
1/2 cup longan meat (cut into small pieces)

METHOD

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla essence and ground mixed spice. Beat using a manual whisk until smooth.

2. Add the longan meat and stir.

3. Add the cubed bread and mix thoroughly.

4. Pour the mixture into the slow cooker.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours.

TIPS

1. When I made the bread pudding, I used a mixture of chocolate bread and fruit & nut bread. As such, I added brown sugar instead of white sugar as the bread is already sweet. If you are using plain bread, you can add white sugar instead.

2. If you do not have longan meat, you can substitute with raisins.