Egg-cellent Idea!

This time of year you see a lot of pastels – pale pinks, baby blues, butter yellows, and spring greens. And I am not just talking about what people are wearing or flowers in gardens; I am talking about kitchen crafts.

Using eggs to get crafty in the kitchen is great because there are so many directions you can go:

- You can boil them and paint them, with the fun of eating strange coloured egg salad sandwiches after your project is finished.

- You can carefully breakaway the top of an egg, remove the egg white and yolk, fill the egg shell with a melted wax, stick a small candle into the still hot wax, and lay your creation over an egg cup for a unique holiday candle centerpiece. 

- Or, you can gently poke pin sized holes into either end and blow the egg white and yolk out one end before painting the egg shell, making your painted egg projects last longer.

The only problem with most of these projects is that you always have tons of leftover eggs, and scrambled eggs get old fast. So, here’s a fun spring recipe for a new take on a bread pudding. It uses a lot of eggs and tastes so good that you’ll wish you decorated more eggs! 

Individual Carrot Cake Bread Pudding with a Cream Cheese Glaze

Makes 12 individual bread puddings

6 eggs, beaten
1 ½ cups of carrot, grated
¾ cup raisins
6 pieces of bread, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
1 pinch of salt
1 ½ cups milk
Butter to grease muffin tin sections
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup icing sugar
Milk, for thinning the glaze

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, combine eggs, grated carrot, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and milk.

3. Add the chopped bread and toss gently to combine.

4. Grease all 12 sections of a muffin tin with butter and divide the bread pudding mixture evenly among the muffin tin sections.

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the tops of the bread puddings begin to brown and bounce back when lightly touched.

6. While the bread puddings are baking, prepare your glaze. In a medium bowl, beat vanilla, cream cheese, and butter until smooth. Add the icing sugar and stir to combine. Add a few drops of milk to thin your glaze to your desired consistency.

7. When bread puddings are finished baking, run a butter knife along the edges of each muffin tin section and spoon the puddings onto plates. Drizzle each warm bread pudding with cream cheese glaze and enjoy!