Ridiculously good bread pudding

I was on another blog looking at recipes the other day and I stumbled on a recipe for Amish ground beef and noodle casserole. I was sure I had a recipe of my own for such a dish, so I looked in my Amish cookbooks and sure enough, I did indeed have one. While looking through the Amish cookbooks, I was inspired to make bread pudding since there were a few bread pudding recipes in those books. The following is a recipe for bread pudding with a new-to-me sauce. Well, new-to-me to put the sauce on bread pudding instead of ice cream or something else. I like this bread pudding recipe because although it has a custard base for the bread, it does not need to be cooked in a water bath. Delicious, simple, and economical! The perfect dessert.

For the bread pudding:
Preheat the over to 350.

1 loaf of Italian bread, cut into 1 inch pieces. Should yield about 6 cups of bread. If the crust is very tough, I cut it off but otherwise leave it on.
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/4 cup black raisins
1 stick melted butter
4 eggs
1 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar - packed
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups of 1/2 and 1/2
2 cups of whole milk

1. Place the bread in a 9x13 dish that has been liberally sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the raisins over the bread, then drizzle on the melted butter. Don't mix this!
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs to break up, then blend in sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla. Add the 1/2 and 1/2 and the milk and blend. Pour the milk mix over the bread and let it soak for about 20 minutes, gently patting the bread down into the milk. Sprinkle with more nutmeg and cinnamon as desired. Place in the 350 oven for 40 - 55 minutes being careful to not brown the top too much. If it starts to get too dark or the raisins burn, cover loosely with foil. The finished pudding should be puffy and golden brown.

For the sauce-
1 stick melted butter
1 cup light brown sugar - packed
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of evaporated milk

Melt butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in salt, vanilla, and milk. Once the pudding is cooled, cut into squares and top with the warm sauce. This sauce recipe is from New Recipes from Quilt Country by Marcia Adams and the bread pudding is a variation on hers, also.