For all the chocolate lovers out there! Bonus points if you’re also a bread pudding lover.
The recipe that I used is adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Ingredients:
Makes about 12 servings -
- 1.5 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 4-oz semi sweet chocolate baking bars, broken into pieces
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (highly recommend using the real thing and not the artificial flavor)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 loaf (1 lb) day old brioche bread (I use the one from Trader Joe’s)
- Note: if you use fresh bread, it might be too moist to soak up the custard, which would give you a soggy bread pudding. Day old bread is ideal)
- 1/2 box strawberries, diced or minced (as a topping, optional)
Personally, I find this bread pudding to be fairly heavy and rich, which is why I like pairing it with strawberries to lighten it up a little bit. Depending on your personal tastes, here are some other topping suggestions:
- other types of berries
- mangoes
- whipped cream
- salted caramel
Instructions:
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Begin by cutting the loaf of bread into small 1-inch pieces. Set aside.
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Place a small-medium saucepan over medium heat, and add the heavy cream and milk. Carefully watch the pot until you get to a simmer, and then take it off the heat. Make sure that it does not come to a rapid boil, and if it does, take it off the heat and give it a few minutes to cool down first.
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Place broken semi-sweet chocolate pieces in a medium bowl and pour the milk/cream mixture over the chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes until the chocolate has melted, and then stir. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
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In a large bowl, add the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Pour the chocolate mixture in, and using a whisk, mix until smooth. Next, divide this mixture into two equal parts.
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Add all of the bread cubes to one of the two bowls with the chocolate custard mixture and stir. Set aside. At this point, you should have one bowl with chocolate custard covered bread, and another bowl with just chocolate custard.
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Grease two 8x8 baking pans or one 9x13 pan (I personally prefer two 8x8 pans because I tend to bring this to small potluck events or dinner parties, and one 9x13 pan is far too much quantity per event).
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Spread the chocolate covered bread evenly in your pan(s). Pour the bowl of chocolate custard on top of the bread. If you’re using two 8x8 pans, split the mixture into two and then pour one of them into each pan.
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Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top of your bread(s).
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Cover your bread pan(s) tightly with aluminum foil and let it sit for 30-60 minutes. This is essential since the bread needs to soak up the custard.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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Place the covered pan(s) in the oven for ~20 minutes (two 8x8 pans) or ~25 minutes (9x13 pan). Remove the foil and put it back in the oven for ~20 minutes (two 8x8 pans) or ~25 minutes (9x13 pan).
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Top with some more chocolate chips if you really love chocolate, or you can add your strawberries at this point. Personally, I like to leave it as is and add the strawberries while I’m eating it instead of on top of the bread pudding.
