Chilled Bread and Poppy Seed Pudding

"It would be unthinkable for my mother not to make a large bowl of mohnpielen for Christmas," says Ursula Heinzelmann, author of our December 2007 feature story, "A Night in Berlin". Heinzelmann continues: "Mohnpielen is a legacy of the former Eastern German provinces, mainly Silesia. It exists in many variations, but my mother insists that large raisins and rum be added to each serving. Otherwise it is a very simple dish: slightly stale white rolls are roughly cut up and mixed with poppy seeds, some raisins, and sugar to taste. Then boiling milk is poured over the whole mixture and left overnight to soak. When my mother was a child, it was served on Christmas Eve after church as a calm prelude before the great excitement of the presents."