Bread pudding

I had leftover French bread (because I'm only one person and can't eat a whole loaf), leftover coconut milk (from making Thai food recently), and leftover cinnamon sugar (snickerdoodle cookies as someone's birthday gift). Add a few eggs and a dash of vanilla and voilà! Bread pudding. Baking usually has a lot of rules but this is one of the few recipes that can afford some leniency.

Bread pudding, loosely
adapted from AllRecipes

Enough stale French bread, torn, to fill an 8x8 pan
2 Tbl melted butter (optional)
4 eggs
2 cups milk* (see note)
1/2 cup sugar, preferably white
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

* note about milk: any milk product, from nonfat to half and half, can be used. The bread pudding turns out creamier when made with thicker milks. I used 1 cup of coconut milk and 1 cup of 2%, which turned out well.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 baking pan.
2. Break bread into small pieces into the baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Whisk until well mixed. Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a fork until bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture. Any pieces not immersed in this step will turn out crunchy (yum!).
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly tapped. Serve warm.