Blue Magnolia Bread Pudding Ingredients, TroysArt photo
Bread Pudding is one of those desserts known by a myriad of cultures around the world—Creole cuisine not excluded. Considered to be of plebeian origins it is now featured on the tables of the most upscale restaurants. The history is traced back to the 11th Century as a way to use stale bread.
Years back while exhibiting paintings at the Louisiana State Ducks Unlimited Convention, one of the vendors I got to know over the weekend was Desiree Guillory, an entrepreneur from Lafayette, Louisiana—the creator of Blue Magnolia. She proudly offered the passersby a taste of bread pudding. I traded a little painting for a box of her Blue Magnolia Bread Pudding Mix in various flavors.
It is funny how businesses begin. Apparently she was known for her magnificent Bread Puddings. And though a compliment and testament to her baking talents, she really had no recipe—she was just cooking from the heart. So with months of measuring, trial and error, and careful notes each time she threw a recipe together, a commercial mix was born.
Package design, logo and label development, UPC codes, nutritional labels, and manufacturing issues were overcome and the product was launched in 2004.
Blue Magnolia Bread Pudding, TroysArt photo
The mix is simple and fun to make. I saw Desiree two weeks ago giving demonstrations in Baton Rouge—I returned home with a pack of her new recipe, Sweet Potato. You basically break up some buns in a pan, add the dry mix, pour a milk and egg mixture over the bread, and bake. Embellishments can be made in the form of pecans, marshmallows, raisons, etc. The whole house exudes a spicy aroma, making this project especially fantastic for the holidays.
So devoted to my revived TroysArt that in 100-degree Texas heat I fired up my oven and whipped up a Sweet Potato Bread Pudding for the ladies at my office. The result was complete and utter accolades. When I was asked for the recipe I told them to log into my blog!
Each mix is about $5 a bag; a case of 12 is $53. On the website, Blue Magnolia lists retailers throughout the south; but you can also order online.
Love this. My mouth is watering!