Chocolate Bread Pudding

Name: Chocolate Bread Pudding
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 8 slice brown bread; 300 ml skimmed milk; 1 egg; 1 tbsp vanilla extract; 4 tbsp honey; 50 g dark chocolate; 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon

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We took a classic bread pudding and put a lighter spin on it by sweetening it with just a little honey, using brown seeded bread and then we added some dark chocolate chunks. Because, why not! This Chocolate Bread Pudding is total comfort food.

Chocolate Bread Pudding on a white plate next to a serving spoon and a towel

Bread pudding is one of those classic school desserts that always brings back happy memories of eating it in the canteen full of hundreds of rowdy and sugar high kids. Nowadays, it is one of our favourite ways to reduce food waste as the bulk of the dish is bread. Got some bread that has gone a bit stale? It's screaming to be turned in to a chocolate bread pudding.

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Why should you try it?
What you will need
Step by step
What is bread pudding?
What bread to use
How to adapt
What to serve it with
FAQs
Extra tips
More dessert recipes
Recipe
Feedback

Why should you try it?

Great way to use up bread
Low in calories for an indulgent tasting dessert
Kids will love it
Easy to adapt with different flavours

What you will need

Bread - You can use whatever bread you like, making this a great recipe to reduce food waste.
Milk - You can use any milk you like, and you could even use almond or cashew milk.
Egg - This is what makes up the majority of the mixture and gives it that lovely cakey texture.
Vanilla - This adds lots of flavour. Make sure you use extract and not essence.
Honey - This is what we have used to sweeten the chocolate bread pudding. You could use maple syrup instead, or another liquid sweetener.
Chocolate - It wouldn't be a chocolate bread pudding without it. We used a 70% dark chocolate, so it is really rich. You could use milk chocolate, or even use a flavoured chocolate like chocolate orange.
Cinnamon - Chocolate and cinnamon is a delicious combination and a little pinch really brings out the flavours.

Step by step

One: Tear the bread and put it in to a baking dish.

A round baking dish containing torn pieces of bread

Two: In a bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, honey, vanilla and cinnamon.

A round bowl containing an egg and milk mixture with cinnamon

Three: Pour the milk mixture over the bread and make sure everything is covered. Put in the fridge for at least an hour.

Agg and milk soaked bread in a round baking dish

Four: Take out of the fridge and sprinkle the chocolate chunks on top.

Milk soaked bread in a baking dish with chocolate chips sprinkled over it

Five: Put in a preheated oven at 200°C/400°F/Gas 6 for 40 minutes.

Chocolate Bread Pudding in a round baking dish

What is bread pudding?

Bread pudding is basically the combination of torn up leftover bread, milk, eggs and a sweetener. All soaked up together and then baked in the oven until gooey and crispy. Kind of like a sweet casserole. But there is so much more you can do with it and lots of ways to customise it.

What does it taste like? It's kind of got the gooeyness of brownies, but the flavour of French toast and it's pretty dense. Then it takes on the flavour of whatever else you have added in to it.

It's a classic British dessert and in the 13th century is was known as a poor man's pudding, because of the basic ingredients that it uses. Basic doesn't have to be boring and if you want comforting dessert that the whole family will love, then this is it.

What bread to use

The great thing about this is you can use pretty much any bread - which is why it's so good for using up stale bread. We had some wholemeal seeded bread that needed using, so we tore that up to mix in. You can use regular white bread or you can even use croissants if you want to make it a little more indulgent.

How to adapt

We have made this so many times over the year and I don't think we have made it the same way twice. Use this as a base recipe and then go crazy with the add-ons. You can mix in some chopped nuts (we like pecans) and dried fruit (cranberries or cherries go well with the chocolate).

If you want a flavoured bread pudding, then orange or mint go well with chocolate. You can use orange or mint extract or swap a little of the milk for some orange juice and then grate some fresh orange zest on top when you sprinkle the chocolate.

What to serve it with

You can serve it as it is, but if you want to make it more of an indulgent dessert, then serve it with some ice cream or frozen yogurt. A little drizzle of caramel sauce is a good addition too.

Chocolate Bread Pudding on a plate in front of a dish of more bread pudding

FAQs

Can bread pudding be made in advance?

Yes, and there is some preparation that goes in to this dish that would suit it being made in advance. Once you have added the liquid to the bread, it then needs to go in the fridge for at least an hour so that the bread can soak everything up. But, you could leave it in the fridge for 4-5 hours and then put it in the oven 40 minutes before you are ready to eat it.

Can you reheat bread pudding?

This will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days and then you can either eat it cold, at room temperature or heat it up in the oven. I do find that the texture changes when it reheats, so it's best eaten straight after cooking - you can always change the portion sizes if needed.

Extra tips

Stale bread is best to use, so this is a great recipe to reduce food waste.
You can add so many different things to this dessert. Nuts and dried fruit work well.
Want a flavoured bread pudding? Swap the vanilla extract for an orange or mint extract.
Add some extra creaminess by adding dots of cream cheese at the same time as the chocolate. It will all melt together to make these more indulgent.
Leftovers will keep in the fridge for about 3 days.

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