Mardi Gras Coconut Bread Pudding with Praline Sauce

The best key to bread pudding is using stale bread.  If you need to, you can leave it in a 200 degree oven for an hour.

Ingredients

6 eggs

3 cups whole milk

1 can coconut milk

Dried currants

Vanilla extract

1 loaf French bread cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tsp butter

3 TBSP sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

For the praline sauce:

1 stick Irish butter unsalted

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup heavy cream

2 TBSP rum (preferably spiced)

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

Butter for greasing pan

½ cup chopped pecans toasted

½ cup shredded coconut, toasted

1 tsp vanilla

½ tsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees,
2. For the Bread Pudding: Whisk together eggs, milk, coconut milk, 1 cup sugar, dried cranberries or currants and 1 TBSP vanilla in large bowl.
3. Stir in bread and let rest at room temperature for 45 minutes.
4. Coat a 9 x 13 pan with butter. Transfer bread mixture to buttered baking dish
5. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over bread pudding bake about 1 hour checking the center for doneness. Rest 20 minutes before cutting.
6. For the sauce: Melt 1 stick Irish unsalted butter with brown sugar in a saucepan over medium high heat. Melt and whisk continuously until melted and blended well. Add rum, heavy cream, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and salt. Simmer until reduced for about 5 minutes.
7. Stir in toasted pecans and  toasted coconut, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract and lemon juice.
8. Serve sauce drizzle over warm bread pudding.