BREAD PUDDING

2 cupfuls milk 1 cupful bread crumbs 1 tablespoonful butter 3 tablespoonfuls sugar 1 egg 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful vanilla or 1/2 teaspoonful spices 3 tablespoonfuls cooked currants

Scald the milk; add the bread crumbs. When the crumbs are soft, add the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking-dish, and place the baking-dish in a pan of hot water. Bake the pudding slowly until it becomes firm and golden brown. Cover during the first 15 minutes of baking. Serve with cream, Hard Sauce, Chocolate or Vanilla Sauce (see below).

If chocolate were added to the recipe for plain Bread Pudding, what change should be made in the other ingredients (see Chocolate Corn-starch Pudding)? Since chocolate contains much fat, what ingredient could be omitted, if chocolate were used? Compare the recipes for Bread Pudding and Chocolate Bread Pudding.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

1 cupful bread crumbs 2 cupfuls scalded milk 1 ounce chocolate 1/4 cupful boiling water 1/3 cupful sugar 1 egg 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla

Add the bread crumbs to the scalded milk and allow them to soak until soft. Cut the chocolate in pieces, add the boiling water to it, and cook gently until a smooth paste is formed. Add this to the bread mixture. Proceed as in the preparation of plain Bread Pudding. Serve with plain or whipped cream or Lemon Sauce.

VANILLA SAUCE

1/2 cupful sugar 2 tablespoonfuls flour 1/8 teaspoonful salt 2 cupfuls boiling water 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls butter 1 teaspoonful vanilla

Mix sugar and flour thoroughly, then add boiling water slowly. Cook 10 minutes. Dilute or evaporate if necessary. Add the butter and vanilla [Footnote 53: See footnote 25 regarding the adding of vanilla.] just before serving.