Alton Brown's Chocolate Bread Pudding

In one of the more recent episodes of Good Eats, Alton Brown talked about the wonders of bread pudding. A few years ago after attending a diabetic cooking class with my mom, I encountered a decent version of cinnamon bread pudding using Pepperidge Farms Cinnamon Swirl bread. However, after watching Good Eats, I wanted to try the chocolate variation.

Of course it wouldn't be right if I didn't play around with AB's recipe... er... application a bit. First problem, the megamarket didn't sell challah. Now I recently acquired a Jewish cookbook with a challah recipe but just wasn't in the mood to bake bread so I opted for the next best thing, a boule.

With the bread procured the rest of the ingredients were easy to find. But I did change from bittersweet chocolate to milk chocolate just for a taste preference and I didn't have an espresso to add so I used regular coffee.

Fresh from the oven this tastes like warm chocolate chip cookie. When it cools a bit, it still has cookie properties but less than right out of the oven. Either way you eat it, however, it is a great dessert... of in my case breakfast since I soaked it overnight. ;)

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 2 large whole eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup hot chocolate mix
• 3 cups half-and-half
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 ounces espresso, slightly cooled
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and divided
• 18 ounces stale challah bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, broken into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions

Place the eggs and yolks in the carafe of a blender and combine on the lowest speed for 30 seconds. Slowly add the sugar over 30 seconds, then add the hot chocolate mix and blend until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add the half-and-half, milk, espresso, and vanilla and blend until well combined, about 30 seconds.

Butter a 9 by 13-inch metal pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter and place the cubed bread in the pan. Spread the chocolate on top of the bread and slowly pour in the custard. Press down on the mixture with a spatula or back of a spoon to thoroughly saturate. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 2 hours, or refrigerate for up to 8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake until the internal temperature reaches at least 170 degrees F, about 45 minutes. Set the oven to the high broil setting with the oven door ajar. Remove the bread pudding from the oven. Pour the melted butter into a spray bottle and spritz the top of the bread pudding. Return to the middle rack and broil for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack for 15 minutes before serving.