CRUISE RECIPE:  Holland America’s Bread & Butter Pudding

Hungry to Sail Again

Culinarily speaking, there are a few cruise favorites that, over the years, have become classics: Norwegian’s baked potato soup, Carnival’s Melting Chocolate Cake, Princess Cruises’ fettuccine Alfredo, Crystal’s mushroom soup in a bread bowl among them. But, for me, nothing says cruising more than Holland America’s bread and butter pudding, a rich and custardy concoction that has been a Holland America dessert staple for decades.

If you’re looking for comfort food during these challenging days, wrap yourself in the warmth of Holland America’s Bread & Butter pudding—a moist and dense treat that just might take you back to the pleasures of days gone by…and, certainly, to your last Holland America sailing!

HOLLAND AMERICA:  Bread & Butter Pudding

1 Quart Milk
10 Whole Eggs
8 oz. Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
4 oz. Butter
1 tsp. Cinnamon
4 oz. Raisins
4 White Bread Loaves

Directions:
Trim the crust off the bread, cut into 2-inch cubes. Then mix sugar and eggs and whisk. Slowly add the milk, vanilla flavor and cinnamon. Put the chunks of bread into a baking dish and sprinkle with the raisins. Pour 2/3 of the milk mixture over the bread. Let soak for a 5 minutes and then add the remaining mixture. Cut up the butter and pieces throughout the top of the bread. Cover with aluminum foil and bake in a warm water bath for approximately 60 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and bake until the surface of the pudding is golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Serve warm with hot vanilla sauce.

Vanilla Sauce

1 Pint Milk
1 Pint Heavy Cream
1 Vanilla Bean (cut in half lengthwise)
4 oz. Sugar
9 oz. Egg Yolk
4 oz. Sugar

Directions:

Heat the milk, heavy cream, vanilla bean, and 1/2 of the sugar on medium-high until it comes to a boil. Remove the vanilla bean.  Combine egg yolks and the rest of the sugar, then temper with part of the boiling milk while stirring constantly. Pour egg mixture into the remaining milk and return to heat.  Stir constantly on low heat until mixture thickens. Remove immediately from stove and strain through a cap strainer, directly into a serving dish.

-Judi Cuervo

Judi Cuervo is a New York City native who fell in love with cruising in 1976 during her first sailing aboard Carnival Cruises’ Mardi Gras. Twenty years later, she began her freelance cruise writing gig and, since that time, has covered mass market, ultra-premium, riverboat and expedition ships for regional, national and international publications as well as cruise websites.