Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Apples, caramel sauce put twist on old-fashioned bread pudding

Recipe: Caramel apple bread pudding with easy sauce

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 18, 2026

Apple slices garnish a serving of bread pudding with caramel sauce. The baked pudding is a time-honored recipe for repurposing stale bread. Debbie Arrington

Our great-grandmothers never threw away old bread; it could be repurposed into stuffing, crumbs, croutons or bread pudding.

Pudding ingredients — Eggs and bread, along with apples and raisins,
are the main ingredients of the bread pudding.

This twist on old-fashioned bread pudding is packed with fresh apple and crowned with caramel sauce – a perfect combination on a wintry evening. (Without the sauce, it could be breakfast, too.)

French bread, brioche or other white or eggy breads make the best bread pudding. Tart apples (such as Granny Smith or other pie favorites) work best in this baked dish and will produce the best results, with little chunks of apple among the bread cubes.

Caramel apple bread pudding

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

Butter for the baking dish

4 cups day-old or stale bread, cut into 1-inch cubes or torn into small pieces

3 tablespoons butter

1-1/2 cups apples, peeled and diced

¼ cup brown sugar

2 cups milk

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

½ cup raisins

Cinnamon (optional)

For caramel sauce:

4 tablespoons butter

½ cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions:

Butter a 9-inch square baking dish. Spread bread cubes or pieces evenly in the dish. Set aside.

In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Sauté diced apples until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in brown sugar.

Pour apple mixture over bread in the baking dish. With a large spoon or spatula, gently combine, so the apples are evenly spread among the bread pieces.

In a saucepan, mix milk and ½ cup sugar. Over low heat, gently warm milk, stirring often, until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour warm milk mixture over bread and apples. Let sit for 10 minutes as bread soaks up milk.

Lightly beat eggs and pour over bread-apple-milk mixture. With a spoon or spatula, gently swirl the eggs through the mixture.

Baked bread pudding in a baking dish — The freshly baked pudding can be served
without the caramel sauce for a warming breakfast.

Rinse raisins with hot water, then add to the mixture, again gently swirling to distribute the raisins throughout. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, if desired.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place baking dish in center of 350-degree oven and bake until golden and puffy, about 45 to 50 minutes. A thin knife inserted near the center should come out clean.

Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes.

Serve warm with caramel sauce.

Refrigerate any leftovers, covered.

To make caramel sauce: In a small saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Stir in ½ cup brown sugar. Over medium heat, keep stirring until the sugar is melted and a creamy caramel sauce starts to form, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in cream and keep stirring until sauce reaches desired consistency, about 1 or 2 minutes. Serve immediately. (This sauce can be kept refrigerated and re-warmed as needed.)

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

recipe recipes baking apples dessert breakfast seasonal cooking farmers markets backyard produce produce management winter January Sacramento gardening

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Flowers in My Back Yard Series

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden checklist for week of June 7

Afternoon highs are expected to be back in the mid 90s by midweek, then edging towards triple digits. Plan your planting and garden activities accordingly.

* Remember to water early.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or other summer favorites. Make sure they stay hydrated.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

Taste Summer! E-cookbook