Cherry Cheesecake Bread Pudding

Cherries and cream cheese bake up in your cast iron skillet for a one-of-a-kind sweet treat for Valentine's Day or any day! MORE+ LESS-

By Girl Versus Dough

April 18, 2017

Ingredients

eggs

1 1/2

cups milk

1/2

cup heavy cream

1/2

cup granulated sugar

3/4

teaspoon salt

Zest of 1 orange, divided

Juice of 1/2 an orange, divided

cups stale cubed French bread (cut into 1-inch cubes)

can (21 oz) cherry pie filling

packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2

cup granulated sugar

tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

3/4

cup all-purpose flour

1/3

cup granulated sugar

pinch salt

egg

1/4

cup (2 1/2 ounce) cream cheese, softened

tablespoons milk

1 1/2

cups powdered sugar

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1

Heat oven to 350°F.
2

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, heavy cream, sugar, salt, half the orange zest and half the orange juice until well combined. Stir in bread cubes and let soak as you prepare the other ingredients.
3

In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar and remaining orange zest and juice until smooth.
4

Place half the bread mixture in the bottom of a large, well-greased cast-iron skillet. Spoon half of the cream cheese mixture and half of the can of cherry pie filling on top in rounded tablespoonfuls. Top with remaining bread pudding mixture, then top with rounded tablespoonfuls of remaining cream cheese mixture and cherry pie filling.
5

Prepare the streusel: Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until mixture resembles small crumbs. Sprinkle streusel evenly over bread pudding.
6

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes or until bread pudding is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (tip: before placing in oven, place a baking sheet under the skillet to catch any drips). Let cool slightly as you prepare the icing.
7

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add milk and powdered sugar; beat until smooth. Spoon icing over bread pudding. Serve warm or room temperature.

No nutrition information available for this recipe

Make this perfectly non-traditional, non-chocolate dessert in your cast iron skillet for an extra special Valentine's Day treat! If there’s anything I’ve learned in nearly five years of marriage with my guy, it’s that the way to his heart is most definitely through his stomach. Good thing, because it’s the way to mine, too – which is to say, we eat quite well! Every year for Valentine’s Day, we make each other a fantabulous home-cooked meal. He makes the dinner, I make the dessert. This year, I’m contemplating making approximately 12 hundred dozen desserts because I can’t seem to narrow down all the yummy options – but most likely, I’ll go with this Cherry Cheesecake Bread Pudding, inspired by the The Old Hen blog. I mean, nothing can really compete with gooey bread pudding topped with dollops of cream cheese, cherry pie filling, sugary streusel and cream cheese icing. Are you drooling yet? I know I am … totally a good look for Valentine’s Day! My serving suggestion: One half of the pan for you, one half for your sweetie.