Sunday, February 19, 2012

Chocolate bread pudding

As promised, I`m back to share this bread pudding using the stale cream biscuits I made before. I actually made it on Valentine`s night where I got home at night wondering what I could prepare for a simple celebration. I didn`t prepare any certain menu ahead because initially we didn`t plan to have any celebration. Regardless, I still wanted to bake something chocolatey and sweet for the night and I spotted the stale biscuits sitting sadly in the room. Then I realized I also had the other ingredients, so I quickly grabbed my mixing bowl and whisk. 

Arrange stale bread in a baking dish or cake tin and set aside.
I tore the biscuits to make smaller pieces and placed the crust down as I think they will absorb the liquid better that way.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar. 
I really love it when I can simply use my whisk, not the electric mixer, to make this kind of simple treat.
 
Stir in milk...

...and cocoa powder...whisk..whisk..

...and these beautiful little jewels. 
If you want to use more dried fruits, maybe you should reduce the amount of sugar in the batter to prevent the pudding from being overly sweet.

The final item containing sugar and fat and happiness is white chocolate. 
I was too lazy to chop up the chocolate, so I just broke the bar into chunks and stirred them in. And not only that. I also tried to grate the chocolate in, hence the white tiny chunks sticking on my ladle below. I thought I would love it, but it turned out the big chunks worked best for me.

Alright, now gradually pour the batter into the tin and let the bread absorb it.
I don`t make bread pudding often, but pouring in all the batter then bake it right away is what I usually do. Now I came to think that it might be better if:  I throw all the bread into the batter in the mixing bowl, stir everything, and wait for a while until the bread has fully absorbed the liquid before finally baking it.
I really think that this method works better and you should try it.

So, this is when all the batter has been poured in. Some of the dried fruits and white chocolate chunks will float on top, but that`s okay.
Sprinkle cinnamon over (or you can stir it in when making the batter) and bake it in preheated oven at 180 for 30 mins or until the top is browned and there`s no liquid remained underneath.

The look is not pretty at all and my ability in food-styling probably made it worse. But, there is a very big but here, this pudding has everything you need when you crave for something warm and sweet on a chilly night. Just hear this: The softened bread is filled with the chocolatey pudding and dried fruits with a lovely sweet milky crust of white chocolate on top. Now what`s not to like there??
CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING
Makes for 15-cm diameter and 5-cm deep cake tin

Ingredients:
Stale bread enough to fill half of the tin (see recipe for cream biscuits here)
2 eggs
3 Tbs sugar
150 ml milk
2 Tbs cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups dried fruits
White chocolate
Cinnamon

Method:
1. Arrange stale bread in a baking dish or tin and set aside.
2. Beat eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl.
3. Stir in cocoa powder, milk, and dried fruits.
4. Chop white chocolate into small chunks and stir in.
5. Gradually pour the chocolate batter into the baking tin and let the bread absorb the batter.
6. Sprinkle over cinnamon and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for 30 mins or until the top is browned and no liquid remained underneath.

12 comments:

  1. I have never tried bread pudding, but I am sold, this looks so good! Fortunately I made a batch of cookies today that I don't have to drool so much while looking at your pictures ;)!

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    1. Hi CG, you should try make this pudding because it`s really good!

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  2. yummm! i love bread pudding and chocolate + white chocolate + dried fruit = heavenly!

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  3. I have never tried bread pudding either. It's not very common in Japan (right? I didn't know this while growing up there). It sounds interesting with bread and chocolate in this. It looks easy for me which is a great part. =)

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    1. Hi Nami, I guess you`re right. The most common pudding I found here is the one with caramel sauce on top, like flan. I actually first time knew about bread pudding a year ago through Nigella Lawson`s cooking video where she used croissant. This is kinda fuss-free baking, so you might love it! :)

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  4. This is so easy and looks so tasty! I am keeping this!

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  5. Arudhi, I have never had pudding with stale bread (although I know it's a typical British pudding preparation). Yours looks extraordinary. One of the best leftover bread use ideas I have ever seen!

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    1. I always find it amusing to learn that some dishes are actually British and some are American. It`s just last December I knew about the traditional British mince pies :) If the dishes are called in English, I simply categorize them as "Western" dishes :D

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  6. Oh this looks yum! My hubs loooooves bread pudding, I might have to bookmark this :)

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