Caramelized bread pudding with apricots

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 100 g sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 300 g white bread, sliced ​​or toasted
• 100 g butter
• 300 ml milk
• 300 ml sweet cream
• ½ vanilla pod(s)
• 150 g sugar
• 8 apricots
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 shot of apricot schnapps (Barack Palinka)
• 400 g apricot(s)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ½ vanilla pod(s)
• 1 shot of apricot schnapps

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 40 minutes

best enjoyed warm

Caramelize the sugar until light brown and stir in two tablespoons of butter. Pour the hot syrup into the bottom of a one-and-a-half liter Bundt cake pan. Once cooled, butter the pan well. Bring the milk, cream, sugar, and scraped half a vanilla pod to a boil and let it steep. Once cooled, remove the vanilla pod and whisk in the eggs and egg yolks. Season with apricot schnapps, if desired. Pit the apricots and cut the halves into sixths again. Remove the crust from the white bread and cut into one-centimeter cubes. Melt the butter in a sufficiently large pan and fry the bread cubes until golden brown on all sides. Pour the egg mixture over the cubes, add the apricot pieces, mix briefly, and then pour into the Bundt cake pan. Place in a large pot of boiling water (the water should reach the middle of the dish) and bake in an oven preheated to 180°C for one hour. The top may turn dark during this time. To avoid this, cover with aluminum foil. To test for doneness, insert a wooden skewer. If nothing sticks when removed, the pudding is ready. Remove from the oven, let it rest for half an hour, and only then turn it out. The caramel should have largely liquefied again and coat the surface of the bread pudding. For the sauce, pit the remaining apricots and cut them into pieces. Bring to a boil with the sugar, the scraped-out second half of the vanilla pod, and a small glass of water, then cover and simmer for ten minutes until the apricots are very soft. Purée with a hand blender, add a dash of apricot schnapps if desired, and season again to taste. Serve the sauce hot with the warm bread pudding.