Individual Chocolate Challah Bread Pudding

Bread Soaking

Challah Bread

Rich buttery Challah bread, egg custard and chocolate – what could be better? To make this delicious bread pudding a bit more elegant for a recent dinner party, I baked it in individual ramekins.

Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 pint half-and-half
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 large eggs
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 loaf unseeded, day old Challah bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• ½ cup dulce de leche

Unbaked Bread Pudding

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter eight 4.5-ounce ramekins.
3. In a medium saucepan, bring the half-and-half, cream and sugar to a slow boil over medium heat. Remove from the heat and add chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate has melted.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually add the warm cream mixture to the eggs and whisk until completely combined. Add the bread cubes to the custard and push them down to ensure they’re covered. Allow the bread to soak up the custard for 30-45 minutes.
5. Ladle the custard and bread into the ramekins. Place the ramekins on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
6. To serve, drizzle dulce de leche onto the bread puddings and top with a scoop of ice cream.

Serves 8.