Chocolate Bread Pudding

Let you in on a secret. The very first time I had bread pudding, it was at a hotel buffet and I was so skeptical to try it. Honestly, I'm no big fan of gooey or mashy stuff unless it's gooey chocolate. Nothing oversoggy is my cup of tea. So I picked up courage to try it since it was piping hot and it smelt really wholesome. I was wrong!!! It tastes so good. So when I saw this recipe from Curtis Stone's "What's for dinner?", I was delighted! Because it only takes 2 steps to make it and it can taste SO good :) YUMS!!

I decided to make this no-fuss dessert for a Friday night dinner with close friends to end off the work week. Yes, finally already, didn't you say!! Because I feel the same too :):)

I had converted Curtis Stone's recipe to metric measurements as it is what I usually used unless it's very minute amount or very distinct that it is easy to use.

This serves 8 pax. So please note that I have scaled this recipe to 4 pax instead.

Ingredients:

600g heavy cream

295g whole milk

250g brown sugar

5 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 pound day-old French bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 12 cups)

14g unsalted butter, room temperature

226g chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar

Method:

1. In a large bowl, whisk the cream, milk, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla together. Add the bread and gently stir to coat well. Set aside for about 20 minutes to allow bread to soften and soak up some of the egg mixture.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a baking dish with butter.
3. Fold the chocolate into the bread mixture. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the pudding puffs and is golden brown on top but still moist inside. Cool slightly before serving.

Check out the final picture of this easy but yet yummy chocolate bread pudding. I took such a close up picture as I was truly intrigued by how gooey and delectable that chocolate looks. So what do you think? Mr G says it's yummy and so did my friends. I highly suspect they love the bread that soaked up the milky, creamy and velvety chocolate flavours. For me, I'm a total fan of the top crisp, crusty bread which has a nice crunch to it. When this dish comes out, there will definitely be two sides that appeal to many - crispy, crunchy or moist and gooey. What is your pick?

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Also, I'm going to submit this post to Cook-Your-Books #2 by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours.