Lemon Marmalade Bread Pudding

We are so boned, but in a good way. Kinda. See this year for Lent we gave up watching TV (except the last episode of the Bachelor and Sharks games) But other than that, the TV stays dark. It's a big change for us, we usually turn on the Tube and watch GMA over coffee and light chitchat (Eric doesn't really wake up until around 10:30-11, so deep conversations are usually pretty one sided). This morning we ended up just sitting there in silence, staring at each other until Eric quipped "This is going to be a long 40 days". "40 DAYS! I thought Lent lasted like a week!" came the response. Charisse apparently did not pay much attention in Catholic School. Eric thinks this will help us strengthen our relationship and get more stuff done around the house. Charisse isn't so sure, she likes to wind down to reruns of Friends or Bones after a long day. Only time will tell, time and maybe some well timed bread pudding. Hopefully you haven't given up bread, lemons or yummy food for lent (if you "celebrate" it, but why they call it "celebrating" lent we'll never know)! Actually there are two recipes today, lemon marmalade and lemon marmalade bread pudding. Remember to make the marmalade before you try and make the bread pudding! Oh yeah! Like we promised yesterday that we would, we've officially launched our SmugMug hosting! From here on out all of our pictures will be available as prints, tee-shirts, aprons and other goodies! Yippee! 

Vanilla Bean Meyer Lemon Marmalade 

What You Will Need

 2 lbs meyer lemons

2 1/2 cups water

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

4 cups sugar

Cut off the tops and bottoms of the lemons and score the peel into quarters lengthwise. Remove the peel and save the fruit. Place the peels in a large pot and cover with water, bring to boil and boil for 10 minutes. Rinse with cool water and cover with water and bring back to boil, boil for 10 minutes or so until the peel is soft. Drain. Using a spoon scrape the pith from the peel and cut the skins into long thin strips. 

Remove any membrane and seeds from the lemon segments and add to a large pot along with 2 1/2 cups water and the peel. Boil gently for about 30 minutes until the peel is extremely soft. 

Measure out 4 cups of fruit mixture and discard the rest. Return the 4 cups back into the pot and bring back to boil.  As this point if you are going to can the marmalade, prepare your canning supplies. 

Add vanilla bean and sugar and keep a hard boil going until marmalade reaches the gel stage. Make sure to stirring constantly.  Remove any foam from the top. At this point you could either can it by processing the jars for 10 minutes in a water bath or let cool and refrigerate and use within the next week. 

Lemon Marmalade Bread Pudding

What You Will Need

1 cup Vanilla Bean Meyer Lemon Marmalade 

1 lb french bread cubed

3 1/2 cups half and half

1 cup sugar

2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbs butter

Preheat oven to 325*

Toast bread cubes for 20 minutes and set aside. 

In a small sauce pot, melt butter and 1/2 cup of marmalade together. Toss with toasted bread cubes covering well. 

Heat the half and half over medium low. Cook until bubbles begin forming on the sides and remove from heat. 

In a large bowl whisk eggs, yolks vanilla and sugar together. Slowly whisk the warm milk into the eggs to temper them being careful not to go to fast or you will end up with scrambled eggs. Pour custard mixture over bread cubes and soak for 30 minutes. 

Transfer to a butter casserole dish or individual ramekins and bake for 30-40 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Distribute the last 1/2 cup of marmalade over the tops and bake for another 5 minutes. Serve warm. 

adapted from http://spoonwithme.wordpress.com/