Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

The three main food groups for me are chocolate, bread and butter, so what could be better than a Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding. A bread and butter pudding is an easy way to use stale bread, but fresh will work, too. There's never stale bread at my house.

Basically you make a custard and then add brioche or challah. You can use other breads, but I'm sticking with the good eggy breads for this recipe. Cover the bottom of baking dish with chopped dark chocolate. O.K. that's always here at DyingforChocolate. Slice and butter the bread. Tear into pieces and put on top of chocolate. Sprinkle more chocolate on top and pour custard over the whole thing. Bake in a water bath for about an hour. So easy! It looks great and tastes divine!

Ingredients:
Butter (for the baking dish)
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 slices challah or other soft, rich bread (crusts removed), cut 1/2 inch thick
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup or so of broken dark chocolate pieces (70% or higher)

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolks, and brown sugar. Add cream, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, whisking well to combine them.
3. Spread one side of bread with softened butter. Tear bread into smaller pieces.
4. Sprinkle the chocolate over bottom of baking dish. Arrange bread, buttered sides up, on the chocolate. Be sure and overlap pieces. Sprinkle more chocolate on the bread. Pour the custard into the dish. With a rubber spatula, press the mixture so the bread soaks up the liquids.
5. Set the dish in a roasting pan. Pour warm tap water into roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
6. Bake pudding for 1 hour or until the custard is set and bread is puffy and slightly brown. Let pudding cool for 15 minutes.

Optional: Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar. Serve with plain, whipped or clotted cream.

The proof is in the pudding!