Mexican Bread Pudding Delight

Firstly, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).

To begin making the bread pudding, combine water, piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, sugar, vanilla extract, and cloves in a saucepan. Place it over high heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and let it simmer until the liquid has thickened slightly and reduced to a syrupy consistency, approximately 10 minutes. Remove the cinnamon sticks from the pot.

Next, take each slice of bread and lightly anoint it with butter. Arrange these slices in a large, flat baking dish.

Now, bake the bread in the preheated oven until it is toasted to your liking, taking around 10-15 minutes. Allow the butter to melt and spread evenly.

In a separate baking dish, grease it with cooking spray to prevent the bread pudding from sticking. Add half of the toasted bread slices and sprinkle half of the Monterey Jack cheese, walnuts, raisins, and apricots over the bread. Drizzle half of the syrup over the top to fully coat the bread. Cover this layer with the remaining bread slices, cheese, walnuts, raisins, apricots, and syrup.

Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until the bread pudding is lightly browned and heated through, taking an additional 15 minutes.

Serve the warm bread pudding.