Capirotada dessert

This recipe is said to have originated with Jews living in the New World, namely Mexico, around the region of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where a large contingent of Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition settled. By tradition, it is prepared around the Lenten season (or Passover). This historical footnote is not too much in dispute. Through the centuries, the recipe has lent itself (no pun intended) to variations in the number of condiments and in the proportions between ingredients. Feel free to experiment, but don't eat a lot of this if you're on a diet.

A. Ingredients

1. four rolls, dried, French bread, each roll cut into four (or five) smaller pieces

2. one cup dark brown sugar (or four sticks of piloncillo)

3. one & one half cups water

4. three quarter cups shredded Muenster cheese

5. one half cup raisins

6. one quarter cup chopped pecans

7. one quarter cup peanuts (unsalted)

B. Directions – serves 8
The bread has to be prepared ahead of time since it must be dry. The easiest way to do this is to cut the pieces while the bread is still soft and then just let them dry out. You will have between sixteen and twenty pieces altogether. They will look and feel like big, plain croutons. Mix all the ingredients in a pot in any particular order you like. The bread will absorb the liquid made by the water and brown sugar. The consistency of the mixture can be controlled to taste by either adding to or reducing the amount of water. Some people like it very soft and gooey and others don’t. You can also add or subtract the amount of sugar used. Depending on where you live and where you buy your groceries, you may very well be able to buy bread that is pre-packaged for this purpose. That applies to the brown sugar as well. There are stores that sell what is known as piloncillo – it comes in packages of two or three large solid sticks (shaped like cones). You will need about four of those cones.
Cook the mixture on a stove top over medium heat until the cheese is melted and the sugar (or piloncillo) is dissolved over the bread. It will be necessary to stir the mixture in order to keep the entire blob fairly homogenous. Remove when done and let it sit for a while. This bread pudding tastes unlike any bread pudding you have ever tasted.
I have known this dessert to be done using white sugar and milk (instead of water). The taste is quite different when prepared that way. A variation of this dessert can be made by adding shredded coconut, cinnamon, and cloves. I prefer the simpler, basic recipe. Of course, like me, you might find all this way too cumbersome. Instead of making it myself, I drive down to my favorite Mexican restaurant and order some to go.