Kirschenmichel (German Bread Pudding with Cherries)
If you love bread pudding, you'll love Kirschenmichel. It's a German style of bread pudding made with juicy sour cherries! It's also infused with cinnamon, vanilla, and almond flavors to yield a fragrant and delicious dessert perfect for any occasion.
4stale bread rollscubed into 1-inch pieces (about 220 to 250 grams or 8 to 9 ounces)
1 ¼cupswarm milk
55grams(4 tablespoons / 2 ounces) unsalted butterat room temperature
50grams(¼ cup) granulated sugar
3large eggs
1tablespoonKirschwasser
2teaspoonsground cinnamon
1teaspoonpure vanilla extract
½teaspoonalmond extract
2cups(about 300 grams) drained canned or jarred pitted sour cherries in water or light syrup(One 24-ounce/680 gram jar of sour cherries will yield approximately this much once drained—use paper towels to soak up extra juices)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) with the rack in the center. Lightly grease a 2-quart baking dish with butter and set aside.
Place the bread cubes in a large bowl and top with warm milk. Let the milk soak in for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, using an electric mixer fitting with the whisk attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth (scraping down the sides as needed), then beat in the kirschwasser, cinnamon, and vanilla and almond extracts. Alternatively, you can beat together all of the ingredients in a blender at high speed.
Pour the mixture over the soaked bread, add the drained cherries, and fold to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is set.
Cool it slightly if you’d like to serve it warm, or cool completely to room temperature. Dust the top with powdered sugar before serving.
Notes
Bread: You can use an equivalent amount of stale sliced white bread for the rolls. Slices come in all sizes so to estimate a similar amount, use the weight measurements as a general guide. I used Kaiser rolls here but any other firm textured bread or rolls would work. Avoid using super soft sandwich bread, as it will just get mushy when soaking in the milk.
Milk: The amount of milk you'll need could range a bit depending on how dense or crusty your bread is. Using about 1 ¼ cups warm milk is a good baseline, but you can adjust the amount if you feel that it's not enough to soak into all your bread cubes.
Cherries: I used Specially Selected Dark Morello Cherries from Aldi and they work perfectly. Aldi carries these jarred Morello cherries from time to time, but may not always have them year round, so stock up if you see them. I also recommend Marco Polo brand Pitted Sour Cherries which I have purchased at Whole Foods in the past.