My mom shares this comfort food with a little life lesson…

Our children never liked the traditional bread pudding with cinnamon and raisins. now in our “empty nest” season of life we have “up scaled” the recipe to include nuts, dried fruit, coconut, etc.  I can just hear their “ugh”!

When we first found this recipe for Chocolate Bread Pudding, my initial reaction was “ugh” — chocolate & bread do not go together!

But, then again, when have we not been able to eat something with chocolate in it?

So, being the adventurous one, Papa Jim made it, but just a half  recipe, in case we didn’t like it!

But that wasn’t a problem – it was delicious! It tastes like chocolate pudding with texture! It was wonderful plain, but ice cream dressed it up!

Life lesson: Don’t be afraid to try something new, especially if it contains chocolate!

Chocolate Bread Pudding
From Nana Shirley’s Kitchen

12 cups of ½ in. bread cubes
4 cups heavy cream (condensed milk works!)
2 cups milk
½ cup cocoa powder
1 Tablespoons instant coffee granules
1 cup sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 egg yolks

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300°. Toast bread on rimmed baking sheet, stirring occasionally, until golden and crisp, about 30 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

Increase oven temperature to 325°.  Grease 13 x 9 inch baking pan.   Heat 1 ½ cups cream, milk, cocoa, coffee, and ½ cup sugar in saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until steaming and the sugar dissolves.  Pour warm cream mixture over toasted bread and let stand, tossing occasionally, until liquid has been absorbed, about 10 minutes.

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 remaining sugar to bowl with chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.

Transfer soaked bread mixture to prepared pan and pour chocolate custard mixture over bread. Bake until pudding is just set and surface is slightly crisp, about 45 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes.

Warm reserved chocolate mixture over low heat, then pour over bread pudding.   Serve. (Leftover bread pudding should be refrigerated or frozen; 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 minutes. Let reserved chocolate serving sauce cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Heat sauce in microwave when needed.

Option: You can half the recipe and bake in an 8 X 8 inch pan.

Until next time,
Nana Shirley

Ahh, more wise words from Mom, who is one of the most adventurous women I know!

I wanted a treat to tell my children “thank you” for their good attitudes and hard work after a very busy day of working in the garden, mowing the lawn, and washing mounds of laundry.

As I was putting away the dishes, my eyes fell on the parfait glasses that I had picked up at a garage sale and never used.

A quick look through my pantry revealed a package of Oreo pudding and Bingo! I had my idea.

First I baked some very simple fudge brownies and let them cool. Then I mixed up the Oreo pudding according to the directions on the box.

To assemble, Angel Girl helped me put chunks of brownies in the bottom followed by a layer of pudding, more brownie, then some Cool Whip. We continued the layers all the way to top, finishing off with a dollop of Cool Whip.

They were delicious! A perfect treat after a long hot day of hard work!

My Classic and Favorite Fudge Brownies

Combine: 1 1/3 c. flour, 2 c. sugar. 3/4 c. cocoa, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

In separate bowl combine 2/3 c. oil, 4 eggs, 2 tsp. vanilla.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, Do not over mix!

Spread into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

I’m pleased to have a “guest blogger” today. My mom (the original thrifty lady and ultimate chocolate lover) brings some words of wisdom and a great traditional chocolate recipe!

“It is cold, damp and snowy outside today. Comfort food comes to mind. The aroma and taste of comfort food brings back warm memories.

Growing up my Mom would make chocolate pudding for dessert. It was an inexpensive treat to finish off our meals. We liked it warm with milk.

As our children were growing up there were days that I served food that was good for them, but not their favorites. (like liver and onions!) Plenty of mashed potatoes with a bowl of chocolate pudding for dessert was the ’spoonful of sugar that helped the medicine to go down!’

Now when the grandchildren come to visit they like a bowl after their macaroni and cheese lunch. Ice cream is their topping of choice!

This is the original family recipe, updated for the microwave, but just as comforting!

Homemade Chocolate Pudding

Combine in microwave safe bowl: 1 cup sugar, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3 Tbsp. cocoa.

Stir in 2 1/2 cups milk.

Cook on high in microwave until mixture is hot, but not boiling. Stir every 2 minutes.

Beat 3 egg yolks in a small bowl. Stir several spoonfuls of hot milk mixture into the egg yolks. Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk mixture stirring constantly. (This process is called tempering the eggs.) Continue to cook in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until the pudding is thick. Remove from microwave and stir in 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla.

Serve warm with your favorite topping, or chill in the fridge for several hours and serve cold.”

I went shopping with my youngest son the other day. It’s always an adventure shopping with anyone under 3 feet tall. I’m sure the powers that be in grocery stores strategically place certain tempting foods right at their eye level! He always seems to spy treats that he cannot live without. This trip was no exception! He discovered Instant Jello Oreo Pudding. I will confess that I broke the cardinal rule of shopping with children and gave in to his pleading. We bought one. Okay, we actually bought 4.

As soon as we got home and unloaded all the rest of the groceries, we made one box into an Oreo Pudding Pie. We started with a basic graham cracker crust of 18 crushed graham crackers, 1/2 c. of sugar, 1 stick of butter and 1/2 cup of crushed almonds. I baked it for 15 minutes at 350 degrees and let it cool. Then I took 8 oz. of softened cream cheese and beat it together with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I added the pudding mix and 1 3/4 cup of cold milk and beat them until it started to thicken. Then I took 8 oz. of cool whip and lightly mixed it in. I poured everything into the cooled crust, topped it with 2 crushed oreos and refrigerated it for a few hours. It was a huge hit! Easy and delicious! Now I’m really glad I bought those extra three boxes!