How To Use Melted Ice Cream For The Absolute Best Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is one of those classic dessert dishes that you forget about until you see it on a menu at a homestyle restaurant. It's essentially hunks of bread swimming in a custard that is re-baked until it's soft, spongy, and super delicious. There are numerous variations you can make on a bread pudding recipe, including using cinnamon rolls instead of stale bread or whipping up an easy summer berry bread pudding infused with brandy. But, one of the best ingredients to upgrade your bread pudding, which will also simplify your recipe, is to use melted ice cream instead of the classic custard base. 

It might sound a bit odd to use ice cream, but it makes more sense when you consider that the ice cream base already has sugar, cream, and vanilla — all of the components of a tantalizing, sweet custard. You can substitute in equal parts ice cream for custard. The one ingredient you will have to add are eggs to ensure your pudding will stay together after it's baked. 

Vanilla ice cream is a standard option and one you should get familiar with before you experiment with other flavors. But once you start playing with different bread and ice cream combos, there's no telling where you can go. Coffee ice cream would be a delectable companion to a fluffy sourdough, while chocolate ice cream studded with chocolate chunks would be an excellent fit for a brioche bread pudding. 

If you don't have a surplus of stale bread stored up for your bread pudding, fear not. You can always find other ways to use melted ice cream to enhance your favorite sweet treats. Try it as a shortcut for homemade crème brûlée; the vanilla ice cream will take on the flavor and mouthfeel of the classic flambéed custard dessert. Or, you can pour it on top of a slice of cake or use as a sweet drizzle on top of grilled fruit. You aren't just relegated to using melted ice cream for desserts, either. It is also the secret ingredient in this simple yet indulgent French toast recipe. Just soak each slice in the melted ice cream for about 30 seconds before plopping it into a greased pan.  

But couldn't you just refreeze your melted ice cream? Unfortunately, thawing changes the crystal structure of the dessert and will make it rock-hard and grainy if you try to return it back to the freezer. But luckily, since these ways to repurpose melted ice cream are so easy and tasty, you might find yourself leaving a pint on the counter intentionally.