This dessert has the crustiness of French toast and the berry gooeyness of pie. You can use any combination of berries that totals about 1 3/4 cups. When it comes out of the oven, it’s puffed and golden; it deflates as it cools, but the taste will not suffer.
Paula Shoyer tested this recipe using regular-size glazed doughnuts and glazed doughnut holes; she decided that the pudding is so tasty, you should consider buying doughnuts just to prepare it. You can double the recipe for a 9-by-13-inch pan, or halve the custard and berry amounts if you end up with just a few doughnuts sitting around.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.
MAKE AHEAD: The pudding can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. From Shoyer, baking teacher and author of “The Kosher Baker” (Brandeis, 2010) and the upcoming “The Holiday Kosher Baker” (Sterling, 2013), which will include a chapter of unusual doughnut recipes.
Doughnut and Berry Pudding
12 to 16 servings
INGREDIENTS
5 to 6 glazed yeast doughnuts, preferably day-old (may substitute enough doughnut holes, halved, to cover the bottom of an 8-inch square pan, about 12 ounces)
3 large eggs, left out at room temperature for about 10 minutes
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have an 8-inch square baking pan at hand.
Cut each doughnut in half (creating two semicircles), then cut each half into 3 wedges (for a total of 6 pieces per doughnut). Arrange the doughnut pieces in the baking pan to cover the bottom in a single layer.
Whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract in a medium bowl, then whisk in the milk; this will form the custard.
Scatter the berries around the doughnut pieces, tucking some of them into the nooks and crannies. Pour the egg mixture on top and use a flexible spatula to press and submerge the doughnut pieces and some of the berries under the liquid; allow some berries to poke out. Let it sit for 10 minutes, pressing the doughnut pieces into the liquid every 5 minutes.
Bake for 45 minutes, until the custard has set and the doughnut pieces sticking out are browned. Cool for 15 minutes, then serve warm.
NUTRITION Per serving (based on 16): 150 calories, 3 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 7 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 45 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 14 g sugar
