Comfort by the spoonful: 15 of our favorite bread pudding recipes

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Do you like bananas Foster? Then you’ll love this. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

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This dessert has an almost cake-like texture, with a crunchy pecan topping. A thick, sweet rum sauce finishes it off. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

3/14

Chock full of fresh seasonal veggies and tied together with creamy Gruyere. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

4/14

Made with a caramel sauce and a crème anglaise. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

5/14

Fresh corn kernels are cooked in brown butter for this rich, heady combination. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)

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This bread pudding is rich with thick, almost pudding-like custard and deep chocolate flavor. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

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Classic flavors. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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What makes this bread pudding stand out? Goat cheese, shallots, dandelion greens -- and bacon. (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

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You make this one in the slow cooker. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

10/14

Made with Challah bread. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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Served alongside a simple salad, it makes the perfect meal. (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

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This pudding was adapted from Thomas Keller cookbook, “Ad Hoc at Home.” (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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La Boulange sandwiches a rich, not-too-sweet croissant bread pudding between two crumbly short dough crusts. (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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You’ll need lots of Irish whiskey for this one. (Iris Schneider / Los Angeles Times)

By Rene Lynch

Sept. 29, 2013 9:03 AM PT

With autumn officially underway, cooler temperatures are not far behind. Which has us thinking comfort foods.

From there, it’s a short leap to bread pudding.

There are as many variations on bread puddings as there are moms. (No insult to dads, of course. But bread pudding seems to be a mom thing. Dads are more rice pudding. At least that’s how it broke down in my house.)

PHOTOS: 15 of our favorite bread pudding recipes

Even still, you might be surprised at the variety of bread puddings we found when we pored over the L.A. Times Test Kitchen’s archives as you can see as you flip through the photo gallery above. (You’ll find recipe links embedded in the pop-up captions.)

The recipes tend toward the sweet: We’ve got a sweet potato bread pudding and a caramelized banana bread pudding that some say tastes just like a Banana Foster, and a white chocolate bread pudding that you make in a slow cooker (and then drizzle with a caramel sauce!)

But we’ve included some savory bread puddings as well, including one chock full of veggies and Gruyère cheese, and a corn and brown butter bread pudding that would go nicely at a holiday table, as well as one so hearty — it’s made with bacon and dandelion greens — that you can serve it alongside a salad and call it dinner.

What’s your favorite kind of bread pudding?

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