Hungrymonsters

I come from a family of hungrymonsters.

My brother is 7 feet tall (no really, he's that tall) and that little hungrymonster above there is my nephew, Nathan. We have yet to confirm that he's not actually a clone of my brother.

Anyway, whenever we have my family over for dinner we plan the menu accordingly--there needs to be plenty of food.

My favorite dessert for feeding a crowd (or a small group of hungrymonsters) is bread pudding. I've taken a cue from my mom on this one, as she always likes to make capirotada on occasions that call for a lot of servings. (Capirotada is a Mexican bread pudding with cinnamon and piloncillo, by the way-- a recipe that I promise to post at a later date!) But tonight, in order to satisfy a week long craving for chocolate, I made chocolate bread pudding.

It's one of the easiest desserts I've ever made given the amount of praise it gets. See Nathan? That's chocolate bread pudding love. It's all over his face, his hands, his shirt (our floor, the top of Louie's crate for some reason), and I think a little even got in his hair. Yes--it's magic given that this pudding was made from day old bread (it's actually better when it's a day old) and given that most of the ingredients are things I already have in my pantry. I like to serve this melty chocolaty dish warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

adapted from (Southern Queen) Paula Deen

Ingredients
• 1 (1-pound) loaf French or Italian bread, cubed
• 3 cups milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup coffee flavored liqueur, or brewed coffee
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 6 eggs, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for topping, optional
• chopped walnuts (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish and place the bread in the dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the milk, cream, and liqueur. Using another bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and cocoa powder and mix well. Add the sugar mixture to the milk mixture and mix well. Add the vanilla and almond extract, and cinnamon to the beaten eggs. Combine the egg mixture to the milk mixture and mix well.

Stir the chopped chocolate and walnuts into the mixture. Pour the mixture over the cubed bread in the pan. Let the mixture stand, stirring occasionally for at least 1 hour or until bread absorbs most of the milk mixture. Scatter chocolate chips on top of pudding. Bake for 1 hour or until set. Check pudding by inserting a knife through the middle and it should come out clean.

Serve the pudding warm with ice cream, or refrigerate and serve chilled if desired.