two apples
8 slices day-old bread
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
4 eggs
2 cups milk or kefir, which I always have
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup raisins
Peel, core, and chop apples. Put them in a bowl, mix them with the sugar, and let them sit and give off some liquid, stirring occasionally. Don't forget you can make Crispy Apple Sticks with the peels.
Heat oven to 250 degrees, place the bread on a rack on a baking sheet, and put it in the oven to dry out until hardened but not browned. I'm not sure how long, maybe fifteen minutes? When you start to smell the bread.
Increase oven heat to 350 degrees and generously butter a quart-size casserole.
Beat the eggs and milk in a large bowl, then stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
When the bread is ready, take it out of the oven and roughly chop it into pieces. Add the bread to the egg-milk mixture and let it soak. If it still seems liquidy after it has absorbed all it can, I add a couple more pieces of bread (usually soda bread, which I generally always have.)
Stir in the apples with their juices, and the raisins.
Scrape bread mixture into the prepared casserole and bake for a hour. It's okay to eat out of the oven, but to me that tasted not quite sweet enough. The flavors and sweetness were melded better after several days in the fridge, ymmv.
To reheat a single serving: Fifteen minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.
Oh, the topping. Yeah, idk. I made it at the beginning of shelter in place and I've had a ton in the freezer since then, and also I mixed in some leftover cornbread that I also had the the freezer from making stuffing last Thanksgiving. Google crisp topping, or I'm sure it's fine without.