KIRSCHENMICHEL (GERMAN CHERRY AND BREAD PUDDING)

SOURCE: DAVID GEISSER, ERWIN NIEDERBERGER, AND THOMAS KELLY. THE VATICAN COOKBOOK: 500 YEARS OF CLASSIC RECIPES, PAPAL TRIBUTES, AND EXCLUSIVE IMAGES OF LIFE AND ART AT THE VATICAN.

Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI hails from the riverside village of Marktl near the German-Austrian border. Aside from the culturally blatant penchant for beer and sausages, the emeritus pope also had a sweet tooth and preferred the old-fashioned Bavarian foods he grew up eating. In fact, the Swiss Pontifical Guard has revealed the cherry and bread pudding known as Kirschenmichel to be his favorite dessert. The rural scope of Kirschenmichel is widespread throughout households of southern Germany, where Catholic influence remains strong to this day, thereby exemplifying the frugal and down-to-earth taste of the retired prelate no matter how hard and desperate the media tries to make a spin on his alleged luxurious lifestyle and fashion.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups/360 mL milk, preferably full-cream

1/3 cup/67 grams sugar

1 vanilla bean pod, split open in half and scraped with its pulp OR 1 tablespoon/15 mL vanilla extract OR vanilla bean paste

Pinch of cinnamon, preferably Ceylon cinnamon

4 stale and dry bread rolls, cut into thin slices or bread slices, preferably homemade AND at least a day-old after baking

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon/6 grams freshly grated lemon zest

Pinch of salt

OPTIONAL: 1 tablespoon/15 mL Kirsch liqueur

2 pounds/900 grams cherries, pitted

2 tablespoons/30 grams unsalted butter

Confectioner’s sugar for garnish

Specific Equipment

Medium-sized saucepan

Mixing bowl

Wire whisk

4 small ovenproof ramekins

Serves 4

Instructions

1. Combine the milk, sugar, vanilla bean and pulp or vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

2. Soak in the slices of rolls or bread into the milk and remove the saucepan from heat. Set aside to allow the bread to absorb the milk for 10 minutes.

3. Drain the excess milk into the mixing bowl and whisk in the eggs, lemon zest, and salt until well-blended. Mix in the kirsch, if desired. Set aside.

4. Grease the ramekins with butter. Fill the bottom with a layer of bread slices and pile in a layer of the pitted cherries and repeat. The top layer must be roll or bread slices, making sure to leave a 1/2-inch/1.27-cm allowance of space from the rim of the ramekin.

5. Fill the ramekins carefully with the milk-egg mixture and let rest for 30 minutes until the layer of bread slices has completely imbibed in the liquid.

6. Preheat oven to 425°F/210°C.

7. Bake the ramekins for 30 minutes or until the top turns golden brown. Remove from oven and dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving.