Flashback Cookbook: Bread Pudding

This is the time of year when this sort of physical activity:

...is the norm, leaving many of us with room to consume a few more calories.
 
Meaning, we can turn to our grandmas' cookbooks like this vintage one, ones full of recipes in which starch and fat are not quite the pariah ingredients that they are in many modern cookbooks.

So if you're throwing dietary caution to the wind and eating just for the sheer joy of it, here's a humble recipe for you.  I baked mine in round tiered cake pans, using the small one for the pudding and a larger one for the inch of water surround that most bread pudding and custard recipes require.

BREAD PUDDING
2 slightly beaten eggs
2 1/4 cups of milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups day-old bread cubes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins (or chocolate chips, as I made it here)
Combine the eggs, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, and salt; stir in the bread cubes.  Stir in brown sugar and raisins.  Pour in a large shallow pan sitting in a larger pan on oven rack.  Add water to the larger pan to 1 inch deep.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until knife tests clean halfway between center and edge.

I added chocolate sprinkles to the top, too. 
Many people don't really like bread pudding because they think it too bland, but that blandness is the very thing that makes it a great foundation for a lot of creative add-ins or add-ons.  (Can you envision a rich creamy glaze over the top of this one?)

Happy old school baking!