Friday, September 25, 2009

Somewhat Chocolate Bread Pudding


My husband likes to bring home those bakery-fresh French bread loaves that supermarkets sell. Problem is, they are usually too much for our small family to finish before they go stale. Also, through our work we get a lot of day-old bread.

So what’s the solution? French toast, of course! Or try this bread pudding. I adapted it from Better Homes & Gardens to make it chocolately and doubled it to accommodate how much bread we had.

I originally tossed 1/3 cup of chocolate chips with the oatmeal and bread cubes, but they sank to the bottom during cooking, creating a delicious but hard-to-clean crust.


Ingredients
6 beaten eggs
3 ½ cups milk
½ cup sugar
3 T cocoa powder
8 cups stale or oven-dried French bread cubes
1/3 cup dry oatmeal

Method
Preheat oven 350 F. In a bowl beat together eggs, milk, sugar and cocoa powder. (I had a hard time getting the cocoa powder to stop rising to the top of the mixture. It might help to mix it thoroughly with the sugar before adding both to the eggs and milk.) In a large baking dish, casserole dish or Pyrex bowl, toss together bread crumbs and oatmeal. Pour egg mixture evenly over bread mixture.

Bake at 350 F for 90 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. If desired, after an hour of cooking, sprinkle the top of the pudding lightly with chocolate chips and additional oatmeal. Cool slightly; serve warm. Store leftovers in the fridge for an instant breakfast.

1 comment:

A Cuban In London said...

What a great solution! Like you I find French sticks too difficult to keep fresh. Now, here's a good suggestion. Many thanks. And the pic is great, too :-).

Greetings from London.