Chocolate Bread Pudding

If chocolate is your thing, well you haven’t had a delicious chocolate dessert until you’ve had this warm chocolate bread pudding.   

TRUST ME it’s fantastic!

Now, I’m a huge chocolate person, and this is the BEST chocolate dessert, no matter how much chocolate cake I make this one still wins!

I like having these individual desserts in the fridge to heat up at a moments’ notice.

To begin with, this dessert starts will all the best ingredients,

let’s talk about the bread…

for this bread pudding…

I wanted a buttery and delicious base, so the bread pudding would be rich in taste,

therefore I chose croissants.

Next, I chose the ingredients for the pudding portion,

Milk, cream and chocolate.

The milk and cream are the best part of so many recipes so they were key here too. 

The chocolate… oh the chocolate,

this has dark chocolate and dutch cocoa powder, which is one of my favorite combinations in chocolate desserts.

As I mentioned this recipe has croissants, and oh how delicious these croissants make this dish!

Large warehouse stores sell croissants by the dozen, which make it convenient for this recipe.

Also, my local grocery store boxes up croissants by the dozen when they need to sell them (for a steal I might add) and I buy them whenever I see them. Sometimes for $2.00 for the dozen.

I used 10 croissants and that yielded about 12 cups, in case you want to use another bread item.

Croissants are the KEY to the delicious buttery rich flavor in this dessert!

I heated the milk and eggs and whisked in the chocolate and cocoa until it was all completely melted.

Then I poured the pudding mixture over the ramekins full of cut-up croissants. I overfill mine and am not surprised when the containers need to be cleaned off a bit before baking, so they come out neatly.

I think using the wide funnel used in canning may be the best item to fill jars and ramekins with less mess (just a suggestion if you like to keep things neat) This recipe can also be baked in a casserole dish if you prefer.

Once the pudding is all poured over the tops of the croissants and they are completely covered, they are ready to go into the oven. I bake the jars and ramekins on a baking sheet.

Once they are out of the oven, whip up a cup of heavy cream with a tablespoon of powdered sugar and after the bread pudding has cooled enough to handle top them off with some whipped cream and you are ready to serve them.

If you prepare these ahead of time, simply reheat them for 10-15 minutes in the oven or 1 1/2 minutes in the microwave.

With all the cooking and baking I do, you can imagine how many dairy items I use. From butter to cream, milk and don’t forget the cheese!

This has really become my go-to chocolate dessert, the flavor is undeniably delicious, it’s warm and comforting and I love that it is made with real simple ingredients that are readily available.

Use your favorite Chocolate, mine is Ghirardelli 60% cacao, if you want it creamier or lighter on the chocolate flavor use milk chocolate.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Chocolate Bread Pudding

a rich delicious chocolatey baked bread pudding that will have you dreaming of how delicious this is after you've eaten it.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Diane Schmidt - createdbydiane.com

Ingredients

• 12 cups croissants cut into pieces, 10 croissants
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 eggs
• 12 oz chocolate I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao Chips
• 1/4 cup dutch cocoa

Instructions

• Cut bread into one-inch pieces (approximately)
• Fill the jars or ramekins with the bread (or place it in a casserole dish)
• whisk the heavy cream, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs together
• melt the chocolate in a dish in the microwave (about a minute)
• in a medium saucepan heat the milk mixture just until warm
• whisk in the melted chocolate and dutch cocoa
• when it's all combined pour the mixture over the croissants
• Bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the pudding is set. Timing will be based on the size of the jar/ramekin used. I used both 1 cup and 2 cup sized dishes and they were done in 35 minutes.

I can’t thank the California Dairy Association enough for such a great day, they certainly know how to plan an outing and pull it off flawlessly!

*Disclosure, I am an ambassador for California Dairy Association and received compensation on this project, all opinions are my own.

I do wish I could have taken home the baby calf, he was so cute!