The Chef & Pauper household is not big on waste (food or otherwise), friends. That’s why I always save leftover hotdog and hamburger buns in my freezer!

Now, thawing them and actually using them for hamburgers or hot dogs isn’t ideal. I could go into how freezing and thawing causes structural changes to the bread from the ice that forms from the moisture within it, and discuss how that affects texture and taste, but that would be incredibly boring.

Instead, I like to use my leftover frozen bread for a dessert that actually works better with stale bread…Bread Pudding!

That’s right. We’re going to make one of my favorite depression-era desserts with items you probably already have on hand.

Let’s make some easy bread pudding!

First, gather your ingredients.

You can see I’m using two hotdog buns, two hamburger buns, and the butt end of a random loaf of bread, so just adjust ingredients to have the same approximate bread-to-everything else ratio.

It’s not an exact science, so don’t worry if you’re short an egg or a little low on milk here.

For this recipe, you’re going to need:

• 4-5 day-old buns or thawed buns from your freezer.
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3-4 eggs, beaten (I’ve found that either works fine)
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Let’s get baking!

First, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Then (after aggressively washing your hands), break the buns into small pieces into an 8-inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over ’em.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

I recommend serving this delightful dish warm with a scoop of ice cream!