Bread Pudding Desserts

This gooey bread pudding made with caramel-like dulce de leche from Latin America is so much more than the sum of its five parts. To add even more flavor, throw in a handful of fresh or frozen raspberries or blueberries before baking.

Andrew Zimmern's whiskey-spiked bread pudding is an amazing dessert for all occasions, especially St. Paddy's Day.

"We Brits consider this 'pudding,'" says cookbook author and TV star Nigella Lawson of her buttery, sweet dessert. "Think bread pudding, only so much more luxurious. When I make this for supper, we eat nothing else. Why would one need to?"

A fast and easy way to make the port caramel sauce is to reduce the port in a saucepan until it has the consistency of syrup, then add store-bought caramel sauce and warm through.

Gail Simmons rescues dense, dull bread pudding by sautéing the apples in brandy and butter, then soaking both them and brioche in lots of vanilla custard before baking.

Inspired by her grandmother, who used up bread "until the dear end," Italian master Lidia Bastianich turns leftover loaves into creamy, nutty parfaits.

Chef David Page tosses sweet golden raisins into his apple bread pudding, which he developed years ago with baker Melissa Murphy.

Sweet bananas and buttery brioche come together in this decadent dessert.

To help balance the irresistibly crispy top, sprinkle the baking dish with turbinado sugar to give the bottom of the pudding a delightful crunch.

"This recipe was created over a breakfast of—what else?—Krispy Kremes," says chef Govind Armstrong. The espresso-infused whipped cream makes a brilliant, and equally decadent, topping.

Chef Bradley Ogden's 1987 recipe for ultrarich bread pudding is perfect for dessert or brunch. It can be made with store-bought bread, but it's best made with a fresh bakery loaf, sliced 1/2 inch thick.