From the Test Kitchen: Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding

On occasion my parents go away to a meeting or on a short vacation leaving my sisters and me to hold down the fort. We girls relish these times to make dishes our parents aren't fond of, try out new ones clipped from magazines, and even come up with creations of our own. Sometimes these recipes are filed away in the trash can, but usually we find another good and fun food to add to our repertoire. The latter is what happened to my own version of bread pudding.

Looking in the freezer on one of these parentless days, I found an overabundance of chocolate bread. Experimenting to create the perfect bread made for a yummy finalized product and a freezer full of rejects. What was to be done with it all? Then the idea dawned on my. Why not make bread pudding? Knowing that Mom uses our well loved "old Rothsay cook book" when making this old fashioned dessert, I flipped through its pages until I found the yellow edged page with a well marked bread pudding recipe at the bottom. This must be it!

When Mom makes bread pudding she uses all the left over ends of bread collected in the freezer over time. Slices that have been out too long to be very tasty, left over hot dog buns from grilling at the lake, and unused bread samples from the farmer's market make their way into the freezer to be pulled out for home made salad croutons and an occasional casserole full of not too mushy, slightly sweet bread pudding. The recipe has been much altered to make a lighter dessert, one that we can go away from feeling as if we've had a good dessert but not pay for it later. A satisfying dessert all around.

For my chocolate version of bread pudding, I realized a few alterations would have to be made to the already tweaked recipe. Raisins and cinnamon had to go. This is what resulted.

Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding - Skinny Version
8 c. Chocolate Pecan Bread, cut in small cubes
2-1/4 c. milk, scalded (more if you like a wetter pudding)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 c. sugar
Spread the bread cubes in a large, flat casserole or in a 9"x13" pan. Pour scalded milk over the bread and cool. Pour eggs over the bread and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until the bread becomes pudding-like at the bottom (use a knife to probe into the center and check it out). Viole - a successful dessert!

Realizing that not everyone goes for skinny desserts, I experimented with the original recipe to make a deluxe bread pudding. This will not last long on your table!

Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding - All the Way
4 c. Chocolate Pecan Bread, cut in small cubes
2 c. milk, scalded
1/4 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. sugar
Spread the bread cubes in a 9"x9" baking pan. Pour scalded milk over the bread and cool. Pour butter and eggs over the bread (Do not mix these two together! The warm butter will cook the egg.) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees until the bread becomes pudding like (I baked mine 1hr. - for a wetter pudding bake less).

The traditional way for our family to eat bread pudding is with milk poured over the top, but I have been dreaming of other toppings. These are some of the ideas that have been floating around in my mind: A scoop of soft ice cream melting over the top, a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzling of caramel, fresh raspberries. Hmmm - I should open a bread pudding shop!