Welcome to Cook-ING, a biweekly series where writer Ingrid Doubleday (Ingrid, ING, get it?) shares recipe ideas and reviews, meal prepping tips, dinner party plans, and other fun cooking related tidbits, stories, and snacks. This week we’ll be Cook-ING up a yummy brunch to celebrate the start of spring.
It’s finally April! The sun is shining (sometimes), it’s warm (occasionally), flowers are blooming, trees are budding, and what better way to celebrate the change of seasons than with a cheerful brunch with friends, family, or fellow Narwhals.
I’ve been feeling a bit stressed and overwhelmed lately with my schoolwork and the transition back to class from spring break, so I’ve been trying to prioritize low-key quality time with friends that leaves me feeling connected and rejuvenated. Having a meal with friends is one of my favorite ways to create that quality time, and brunch in particular always makes me happy. I also love having people over for a meal because it usually winds up being cheaper than going to a restaurant and a little easier to have more meaningful conversation.
I enjoy getting to cook breakfast for other people — to give them good food, a nice cup of coffee, a burst of energy, and a little joy to start their day off right. So, in the spirit of spring, sunshine, and new growth, we are cook-ING and host-ING a brunch.
The star of this brunch is bread pudding — a very similar idea and flavor to French toast but baked in the oven, which gives you more free time for other cooking, decorating, or hosting duties. To go with the bread pudding, I made fruit salad, scrambled eggs, and bacon. And we all had a coffee (in our preferred style) and mimosas!
Like the banana bread, this bread pudding recipe is something my mom used to make all the time when I was a kid. It often came out on Easter when my family would host a big brunch and egg hunt. Now that I’m older and hosting my own brunches, I totally understand why my mom loved this recipe and would use it for these big events — it’s super quick, easy to put together, and gives you a lot more free time. Another great thing about this dish is you can really use any kind of bread you have at home, and it’s an especially good way to use up stale bread (another reason why my mom would make this all the time).
My version of this bread pudding recipe is adapted from “Cinnamon Mornings” by Pamela Lanier. It serves about 6-8 people and takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to prepare and bake.
Ingredients:
- A loaf of bread — you can use any bread here! I usually go for a brioche or a challah, the original recipe uses croissants, and I’ve also made this with sourdough and a baguette, so truly any bread will work.
- 6 eggs
- 2 ½ cups half-and-half
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Cinnamon and nutmeg to taste — I do just a little sprinkle of nutmeg and about a teaspoon of cinnamon.
- Splash of vanilla
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get out a 9” x 13” baking dish.
- Cut your bread into bite-sized pieces and place in the baking dish.
- Whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, sugar, spices, salt, and vanilla in a bowl.
- Pour the custard mixture over the bread, making sure to cover all the pieces. I usually rearrange some of the bread cubes after I’ve poured the custard in to ensure everything is evenly distributed across the dish and that all the bread has custard.
- Bake for about 50 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown and the middle is fully set and slightly firm to the touch. I usually start checking doneness around 45 minutes into the bake just to make sure the bread isn’t burning. If it looks like your custard needs to set more but the bread is already browning a lot, you can cover the tray with foil for the remainder of the bake to prevent burning.
- Remove from the oven, let cool a bit, and serve! For toppings, I recommend maple syrup, maybe a little sprinkle of powdered sugar, a dash more cinnamon, and fruit.
You can also pre-make the bread pudding through step 4 and keep it in the fridge overnight, so in the morning, all you have to do is bake it. This is especially nice if you are using stale bread because it gives it more time to absorb the custard and soften before baking.
Once my bread pudding was baking in the oven, I got started on the fruit salad. Fruit salads are always a great, quick, and easy side dish for brunch — they go well on top of the bread pudding (or on a pancake, waffle, crepe, or any other kind of sweet brunch dish) or just as a sweeter side to a savory brunch moment. For this fruit salad, I used apples, strawberries, and kiwis. I always squeeze a little lemon juice on top of my fruit salad which will help prevent the fruit from browning. Fruit salad is another thing that is easy to make ahead of time and store overnight in the fridge to save time in the morning.
After the fruit salad was finished, I started on the bacon. I tend to cook my bacon on the stove, browning until it’s nice and crispy. If I’m cooking a brunch that requires more stovetop space, then I’ll make my bacon in the oven, but sometimes with that method I struggle to achieve my desired super crispy texture. Once the bacon was done, I poured off most of the grease in the pan and saved a little bit to cook the eggs in.
I waited to cook the eggs until everything was out of the oven, drinks poured, and coffees made, that way I could serve them nice and hot (no one likes a cold scramble). My general rule of thumb for egg quantity when scrambling is 2 per person plus 1 for the pan (some always inevitably gets stuck). I also usually add a splash of milk to the eggs when I whisk them to help loosen them up and make a nice smooth texture. And just like that, it was time to eat — we dished up and dug in!
Since this week isn’t just cook-ING, but also host-ING, I wanted to share some fun ideas for decorations or even a little activity to make together post-brunch when you’ve moved onto your second coffee or mimosa. In the spirit of spring, tissue paper flowers are an easy and fun craft that’s fairly inexpensive, and that brings some whimsy and joy to your brunch table. All you need is tissue paper, scissors, and either a stapler, string, yarn, or pipe cleaners.
Accordion fold your tissue paper, cut the ends to make the flower petal shape, staple the middle, and pull apart each layer, wrinkling and fluffing the paper as you go to make your flower shape. If you don’t have a stapler, you can also tie the middle with string or yarn or use a pipe cleaner to make a stem for your flower. You can link your flowers together to make a garland, or if you use pipe cleaners, you can make a cute bouquet for your table. The Craft Patch has some good instructions and inspiration, but these flowers are super easy to make and get creative with.
If you aren’t feeling crafty, a real flower bouquet always makes a table feel festive and special. Some other decorating techniques I like are name cards (you can do a fun little doodle for each guest), little themed items (like a tiny bunny or dyed egg for an Easter brunch, confetti and mini party hats for a birthday brunch, etc), and candles (tealights and tapers, anything fun and colorful to match the vibe you’re going for). Then, I love putting all the dishes, toppings, and extra things in cute little plates and bowls to make the table feel cohesive and complete.
Hosting can be a bit daunting or overwhelming sometimes, but I always feel so full of love and joy for the people around me when I get to share my love with them through cooking. I hope these recipes and ideas inspire some Narwhal creativity and community in you all to host your own brunch and celebrate the start of spring.
