Authentic New Orleans Bread Pudding - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1 loaf stale new orleans French bread
6 eggs, beaten well
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
5 cups whole milk, scalded
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups rum-soaked raisins
1 large rome apple, peeled and diced (or Fiji apple)

Preparation

First, grease an 11 x 14 Pyrex baking pan with the tablespoon of butter. The cut the stale French bread into 2\"x2\" squares and place them in the pan.
Next, take a large mixing bowl and a piano wire whisk and make an egg custard by creaming together the eggs and the sugar until smooth.
Then whip in the vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg until everything is thoroughly incorporated into the custard.
Now stir in the scalded whole milk, the whipping cream, and the butter and work that well into the mixture.
At this point pour the custard mixture over the bread chunks and, using your fingers, work it into the bread until the pieces soften (ideally, you want to allow the bread to truly \"soak\" into the custard).
Then when the bread becomes \"heavenly moist\" and fluffy, evenly sprinkle on the raisins and the diced apple (again with your fingers, gently push them into the softened bread).
Finally, sprinkle a little more cinnamon over the top of the pudding and bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about an hour (or until the pudding turns a rich honey brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).