Feeding Friendship: Chocolate Bread Pudding

Alright! It's time for another exciting round of Feeding Friendship! The secret ingredient is:

Eggs!

No, I didn't drop the egg carton. These are fresh eggs from our chickens. They peck them so some of the eggs are a bit worse for the wear, but they'll work (unless you want to hard boil them, then you have to use the less-pecked ones...).

I chose to make Chocolate Bread Pudding as my Feeding Friendship recipe. I learned to make this at a cooking class at Central Market back in February. After the first bite, I turned to Mike and told him I was leaving him for the instructor (for his culinary abilities more than anything). It was honestly the best thing I've ever eaten.

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:

Bread Pudding
1  loaf Challah bread (recipe says French bread), day old, roughly torn up
1.5  cups semisweet chocolate chips
6  eggs, beaten
1  quart half and half
1  Tbsp vanilla extract
1.5  cups sugar
6  Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1  tsp ground cinnamon
1  tsp salt
4  Tbsp unsalted butter
4  Tbsp brown sugar

Sauce
3/4  cups sugar
3  oz evaporated milk
2  Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2  egg, beaten (odd, sorry, but the original recipe makes too much sauce...)
1/2  tsp vanilla
1/8  cup Kahlua

To prepare bread pudding:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) Butter a 9x13 baking dish and fill it with torn bread and disperse the chocolate chips amongst the bread pieces.

3) In a large bowl combine the eggs, half and half, and vanilla.

"Farm" fresh eggs, ready to be beaten!

4) In another bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt.

I think cocoa is so beautiful!

5) Gradually stir the liquid into the dry mixture until well-blended (I use a hand mixer...)

6) Pour over the bread in the baking dish. Bake for 1 hour.

7) Remove from oven, dot top with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar. Put back into oven for 5-10 min, until butter is melted and brown sugar is saturated. Let cool before serving.

To prepare the sauce:

1) In a medium saucepan, before placing over heat, stir together the sugar evaporated milk, butter and eggs. Stir to blend thoroughly.

2) Place pan over medium-low heat and add vanilla and Kahlua.

3) Chill sauce.

4) Serve bread pudding warm with cold sauce and top with a dollop of whipped cream and grated chocolate, if you like.

I enjoyed mine with a glass of milk!