Vanilla chai bread pudding is easy and delicious

One of my most favorite places to shop for food in the whole wide world is Trader Joe’s. Whenever I get up to Massachusetts I stop in the Trader’s in Framingham, where I load up my cart. So when I came across this bread pudding I knew it had to be great, flavored with Trader’s chai mix.

Using chai tea and also agave nectar in a bread pudding is also a neat and original idea. It was posted on the Cooking with Trader Joe’s blog by Deana Gunn, under the vegetarian and vegan recipes. Ahhh, I can just smell the wonderful aroma … sigh …

VANILLA CHAI BREAD PUDDING

A little more than 1/2 of a 1-lb challah loaf cubed into 1/2-inch chunks (about 6 cups worth)

3 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 tablespoons Spicy Chai Latte Mix powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup agave nectar

You will also need six 6-ounce ramekins (These are the smaller size ones which are 3.5 inch diameter)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.Place cubed bread in medium sized bowl.

3. In separate bowl, combine eggs, cream, powder, vanilla, and agave. Whisk together until mixture is smooth and all powder has dissolved.

4. Pour mixture over bread and let it soak for 10 minutes. Do not stir since that will create a mush. Once or twice, using large spoon or spatula, gently flip some of the bread over so that mixture soaks in evenly.

5. Fill each well-buttered or oiled ramekin with some of the bread. Press gently to compact slightly.

6. Place ramekins in baking dish and fill baking dish with hot water until water is halfway up sides of ramekins.

7. Place in oven (carefully!), drape with foil, and bake for about 30 minutes until bread pudding is firm in center.

8.Pop out of ramekin if desired. Serve warm with ice cream, frozen yogurt, or drizzle with chocolate sauce. (Note from Deana Gunn: In the photos, I garnished it with a piece of candied ginger.

(Recipe posted by Deana Gunn on the blog, Cooking with Trader Joes, 2009)

Chocolate bread pudding is rich treat for the holidays

One thing’s for sure – you can depend on recipes you get from America’s Test Kitchen. So when I found this recipe I knew it had to be good. Their mission is to test recipes, understand how they work, and arrive at the best version.

And you can’t go wrong with ingredients such as challah bread, cream, cocoa, and semi-sweet chocolate. For those who don’t have time to do it all in one day, they suggest prepping the bread mixture and refrigerating it overnight, then baking the next day.

The folks at America’s Test Kitchen found that with the melted chocolate, the base was so thick that it wasn’t fully soaking into the bread. So to thin out the base, they soaked the toasted challah in a mixture of heavy cream, milk, and cocoa powder before adding in rich custard made with melted chocolate, egg yolks, cream, and sugar. They also suggest that you drizzle a bit of reserved chocolate sauce (melted chocolate and cream) over the warm bread pudding after it comes out of the oven. It’s important to use Dutch-based cocoa in this recipe. Natural cocoa powder will make the bread pudding too bitter.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING
Serves 12.

1 (12-inch) loaf challah, cut into 12-inch cubes (about 12 cups)
4 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 cup sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
10 large egg yolks

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees F. Toast bread on baking sheet, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 30 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Increase oven temp to 325 degrees F. Grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Heat 1-1/2 cups cream, milk, cocoa, espresso, and 1/2 cup sugar in saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming and sugar dissolves. Pour warm cream mixture over toasted bread and let stand, tossing occasionally, until liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, bring additional 1 cup cream to simmer in saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until smooth. Transfer 1 cup chocolate mixture to medium bowl and let cool 5 minutes (cover pan and reserve remaining chocolate mixture for serving). Add egg yolks, remaining cream, and sugar to bowl with chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.
4. Transfer soaked bread mixture to prepared pan and pour chocolate custard mixture evenly over bread. Bake until pudding is just set and surface is slightly crisp, about 45 mijnutes. Let cool 30 minutes. Warm reserved chocolate mixture over low heat, then pour over bread pudding. Serve. (Leftover bread pudding should be refrigerated; reheat individual portions in microwave.)
Make ahead: In step 4, once soaked bread mixture has been transferred to prepared pan, the pan can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. When ready to bake, remove plastic and proceed with recipe as directed, increasing baking time to 55 to 60 minutes. Let reserved chocolate serving sauce cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Heat sauce in microwave when needed.
(Recipe 2008, America’s Test Kitchen; Cookscountry.com)

Pineapple Upside-Down Bread Pudding is a slice saver

There was only one left.
After arranging the nine pineapple slices in the baking pan for the upside down cake, I found one lonely slice left in the bottom of the can.

Choices here:
Eat it.
Save it for later.
Toss it.

None of the above. The one and only possibility was to add it to some stale bread and make a festive bread pudding. Fragrant and fruity and looking pretty as a new spring flower.

Rather than cut up the pineapple, we decided to place it on the butterscotch topping that we’d spooned onto the bottom of a small ceramic baking dish. Added a red cherry to the center, and we were off and creating.

We added some pineapple juice for an aromatic touch. Next time we might put in pineapple vodka (from the stash we made up several months ago) or some pineapple rum.

Note: the liquid to bread ratio in this BP was kind of high, producing a final result of a nice, custardy texture. For a thicker version, you could just up the bread ante.

This pineapple bread pudding was even better the next day with our breakfast coffee. Okay, so this BP in the morning thing is becoming a delicious habit.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN BREAD PUDDING

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon (heaping) butterscotch flavored topping
1 canned pineapple slice
1 maraschino cherry
2 cups challah, or other egg bread, cubes
2 large eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter, melted
2/3 cup half & half or cream
3 tablespoons pineapple juice (drained from the can)

Spray bottom and sides of 2-1/2-cup baking dish. Drizzle pan bottom with butterscotch topping. Drain pineapple well between paper towels. Place over topping in center of pan, then add cherry to center of slice. Top with bread cubes. In bowl, whisk eggs together with sugar. Stir in melted butter, cream, and pineapple juice. Pour liquid over bread. Let stand about 20 minutes. Bake in preheated 350-degree F. oven 45-50 minutes or until set. Cool slightly, then invert onto plate. Makes 2 to 4 servings.
(Note: Use a higher ratio of bread for a more dense bread pudding.)
© 2008, Recipe by Portia Little.