by student epicure
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2 cups
whole milk
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4
eggs
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1/3 cup
bourbon
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8 ounces
72% dark chocolate, chopped
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4 cups
day-old French bread cubes (packed)
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1/2 cup
turbinado sugar
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Preheat oven to 350.
Ask the hotline about this step!Whisk together milk, eggs, and bourbon. In a large bowl, combine the liquids with the chocolate, bread cubes, and sugar. Toss to coat and set aside to soak for about 45 minutes. Gently stir once or twice while soaking.
Ask the hotline about this step!Pour mixture into a 1.5 quart baking dish. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the custard has set and the top of the pudding is slightly crispy (be careful not to overcook). Serve warm or at warm temperature.
Ask the hotline about this step!delicious, thank you! I pre-soaked dried cherries and it tasted great. :-)
This is a delightful weeknight dessert. I substituted dark chocolate chips in lieu of shaving a chocolate bar, making the preparation even easier. I also used Challah (we get a loaf every week courtesy of my son's school so we always have a surplus) with good results.
so glad you enjoyed it! and lucky you, having a surplus of challah!
I have a similar recipe on my site, but I add some orange marmalade to the bread w/ the chocolate and bourbon. I use Blanton's or Woodford Reserve bourbon and this recipe is the best! We love it, it's my go to bread pudding.
http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2010/11/best-orange-chocolate-bourbon-bread.html
(not sure why that commenter was so disappointed......bread pudding is bread, eggs and milk and whatever else you want to add.....no rules!).
nice! love the orange-chocolate combo...i'll definitely have to try it! (i'm actually starring at a bottle of blanton's in it's velvety bag as i type...)
hi! i was wondering if it was ok if it soaked longer in the fridge. i'd love to make it earlier in the day and just pop in oven from the fridge while people were eating dinner. is that a no no? thanks!
i just got back from vacation and saw your question now! you know, i honestly don't know. i worry the bread might get too mushy and lose some of its texture...but at the same time, there is so much egg that it does form a good custard, which might compensate. my gut sense is that it might not work, but if you experiment and it does, do let me know!
This is an elegantly simple recipe to make, and just as good to eat. I wouldn't change a thing. It was so good, I had it for breakfast this morning. Is that a bad???
so glad you enjoyed it! and no, not bad at all to eat for breakfast. in fact, i do that myself =)
Glad this just popped up on my screen. I've saved it and will make it the next time I need a special dessert!
great! let me know how it goes!
this is soooo delicious. i used a can of low-fat coconut milk from traders joe's and 1/4 c. heavy cream to replace all the whole milk. and only 3 eggs, since that's all i had and we're stuck in a blizzard here. it's going to be hard to make the dish last a few days...
yum! coconut milk sounds like a wonderful addition! so funny -- i was going to make this for my classmates at school, but was snowed in so i couldn't buy the ingredients. stay warm!
Great success! I doubled this recipe except for the chocolate, of which I only had 11 oz of 78% cocoa. It had a great balance of intensity and mildness, and was pleasantly not too sweet or rich. I wish we had any leftovers so that I could have this for breakfast. I would be curious to taste the difference with a nicer bourbon than Evan Williams...
so glad you enjoyed it! i'll be honest, i've never tried it with a nicer bourbon -- let me know if you do!
I made this last night and it came out wonderful. The only thing I would adjust is the amount of chocolate. I added 6 oz, but I would have just put in 3 oz. There was such a lovely boozy taste but I felt like it was masked by the chocolate. But a great dessert, especially since it is so easy to prepare.
Could I make this in individual ramekins? Or would it cook incorrectly?
I just made this for my friend for dinner and she requested it as her birthday cake. I added some dried cherries and I think, because of Japanese labeling, adding light brown sugar instead of raw. But no worries. It was wonderful. Thanks for the recipe! May all our birthdays be so bourbon-y.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it and what a brilliant idea to add the dried cherries. I will have to try that! What kind of cherries did you use? Did you pre-soak them?
ooo, pre-soaking. Next time, I'm giving those cherries a bath in the bourbon!
I made this recently and it was a hit with everyone - so deliciously boozy, and custardy without being too sweet or heavy. A really great recipe.
Wonderful -- so glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe looked very promising, but my fiancé and I were both disappointed. I'm an experienced cook, I followed the recipe carefully (which I rarely do), and even bought first-rate chocolate. The final product was dry and overly rich. It died a slow death in our fridge. Bread pudding needs a real custard and should not (in my mind) be gussied-up with too many other flavors. I found a vastly better recipe on the Cooks Illustrated site (I'm a subscriber and have no other connection to them):
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Serves 8 to 10. Published March 1, 2010. From Cook's Illustrated.
Challah is an egg-enriched bread that can be found in most bakeries and supermarkets. If you cannot find challah, a firm high-quality sandwich bread such as Arnold Country Classics White or Pepperidge Farm Farmhouse Hearty White may be substituted. If desired, serve this pudding with softly whipped cream or with Bourbon-Brown Sugar Sauce (see related recipe). Store leftovers tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. To retain a crisp top crust when reheating leftovers, cut the bread pudding into squares and heat, uncovered, in a 450-degree oven until warmed through, 6 to 8 minutes.
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1 (14-ounce) loaf challah bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 10 cups) (see note)
9 large egg yolks
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon table salt
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 1/2 cups milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven racks to middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine brown sugar and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in small bowl; set aside.
2. Spread bread cubes in single layer on 2 rimmed baking sheets. Bake, tossing occasionally, until just dry, about 15 minutes, switching trays from top to bottom racks halfway through. Cool bread cubes about 15 minutes; set aside 2 cups.
3. Whisk yolks, remaining 3/4 cup sugar, vanilla, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk in cream and milk until combined. Add remaining 8 cups cooled bread cubes and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to 13 by 9-inch baking dish and let stand, occasionally pressing bread cubes into custard, until cubes are thoroughly saturated, about 30 minutes.
4. Spread reserved bread cubes evenly over top of soaked bread mixture and gently press into custard. Using pastry brush, dab melted butter over top of unsoaked bread pieces. Sprinkle brown-sugar mixture evenly over top. Place bread pudding on rimmed baking sheet and bake on middle rack until custard has just set, and pressing center of pudding with finger reveals no runny liquid, 45 to 50 minutes. (Instant-read thermometer inserted into center of pudding should read 170 degrees.) Transfer to wire rack and cool until pudding is set and just warm, about 45 minutes. Serve.
Thank you for your comment, and we're sorry you didn't enjoy the pudding as much as we did. The pudding was tested 3 times by us, and several times by other community members who have commented about their positive experience here. It could be a matter of taste -- certainly, some people like less chocolate than others -- or some small variation, the type of bread used, that resulted in your disappointment. We love feedback and simply encourage it to be supportive of the community's effort to celebrate great cooking and learn from others. Perhaps next time you can try your hand at tweaking the recipe you didn't like and adding your notes to the comments section or your new recipe to the database, where it will be seen by others.
This was delicious! I made it last night, and convinced my husband that it was no worse than french toast for breakfast in the morning.
Made this last night for a group of seven, assuming that two of the very skinny women would only eat a bite. Wrong! I could have made a double recipe and we'd still have finished the whole fantastic, chocolatey, boozy concoction. A real keeper, this one.
This recipe has it all: the taste and feel of melted chocolate, a hint of bourbon as a bass note, and an incredibly satisfying warmth. Easy to put together, and easy to eat - I've had three servings in the last 12 hours, dessert, breakfast, snack. And I'm looking forward to more after I go dancing tonight.
Bread pudding is my favourite teatime snack. But this sounds wonderfully exotic. Definitely not something I'm going to leave for guests to finish. (Vote: Slurrpalicious)
I'm not fond of bread pudding as a dessert class, but the combination of dark chocolate and quick/easy prep make this a surefire opportunity to use up some mediocre bourbon in the cabinet.
"Amply boozy yet not too sweet, we..."
I've been a grammar dork for over 20 years, and this is the most delightful dangling modifier I've ever seen.
The recipe sounds great. Lastnightsdinner and I are also not fond of really sweet desserts, but we like 'em boozy and tart, and this is right up our alley.
I was sold on the chocolate and booze part, but when you mentioned the 5 minutes of preparation, this recipe catapulted to the top of my to-try list.
sounds amazing chocolate and bourbon, two of my favorites
i cant wait to try making it
Confession: I love to eat this for breakfast too!
I love boozy bread pudding. It's a dessert AND a nightcap! I'll have to look for that Billy Idol bourbon. ;-)
Kristen is the Senior Editor of food52.
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A well-coordinated set of ingredients -- wouldn't you like a dress made with these colors?
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The ingredient that makes the pudding in bread pudding: eggs!
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student epicure calls for dark chocolate and not too much sugar so the bread pudding isn't too sweet.
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Merrill shows off her coordination, pouring milk into the eggs as she whisks!
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We used Bulleit Bourbon, and plenty of it.
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The chocolate and dried bread cubes are combined first with the raw (turbinado) sugar.
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And then the milk and eggs, and together they macerate for 45 minutes.
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Then in they go into a baking dish. student epicure doesn't butter the dish but if you do, the pudding will come out easier when serving.
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It's a little ragged looking in the baking dish, but what it lacks in beauty it makes up for with flavor.
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We check the pudding for doneness by pressing on a bread cube in the center of the pan and if it springs back, the custard is set and the pudding is done.
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I, like veronique, found the end product dry. I use a second thermometer in the oven to ensure proper temperature but think it may be the amount of bread used. "4 cups day-old French bread cubes (packed)" can vary depending upon how tightly 'packed' on fills the cup. I do believe the use of weights, when possible, will provide a more consistent result. One question I have is if the baking dish was buttered before pouring in the mixture?