Capirotada is a traditional Mexican dessert similar to bread pudding. This dish is cooked by my mother during the holidays and mostly during Lent season.
Preparation Details
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 1 hr
Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins
Servings: 16
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 16 ounces piloncillo (Mexican brown sugar cone), chopped
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 2 tablespoons raw sugar
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 (18 ounce) loaf French bread, sliced
- 1 ½ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 ½ cups chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped dried apricots
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Combine water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, sugar, vanilla extract, and cloves in a pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until slightly thickened and reduced to a syrup, about 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks.
- Lightly butter each slice of bread. Place slices in a large, flat baking pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven until toasted, 10 to 15 minutes. Let butter dry.
- Grease a 9×13-inch cake pan and add 1/2 of the toasted bread. Sprinkle 1/2 of the Monterey Jack cheese, walnuts, raisins, and apricots over the bread. Drizzle 1/2 of the syrup on top to fully coat the bread. Top with the remaining bread, cheese, walnuts, raisins, apricots, and syrup. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until lightly browned and heated through, about 15 minutes more. Serve warm.
