Challah bread pudding recipe with chocolate

I recently bought a beautiful loaf of challah bread for $3.29. With one half of the loaf, I made toad in the hole sandwiches topped with melted gruyere. Delicious.

What to do with the other half of the loaf? Bread pudding seemed like an obvious choice. But bread pudding isn’t top on my list of favorite desserts, so I had to think out of the box to come up with something that pleased my palate but still adhered to my strict food budget.

The conversation I had with myself went something like this:

Q: What would make plain bread pudding even better?

A: Chocolate.

Q: What would make chocolate bread pudding even better?

A: Caramel sauce.

And thus was born a bread pudding that pleased my lukewarm palate for this budget-friendly dessert. I guess chocolate and caramel have a tendency to do that.

Challah Bread Pudding Recipe

The Cost

  • Challah bread (1/2 loaf) = $1.64
  • Half and half = $1.29
  • Eggs = $.24
  • Sugar = $.20
  • Chocolate chips = $1.12
  • Other ingredients (butter, vanilla, salt) = $.20

Total cost of bread pudding = $4.69

(Total cost will be extra if you make the caramel sauce. But trust me – it’s worth it. And you can save the rest for later.)

Challah bread pudding with chocolate and caramel sauce

What To Make With Leftover Challah Bread:

  • French toast
  • Grilled cheese
  • Ham and cheese sandwiches
  • Panini sandwiches
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Croutons
  • Toad in the hole sandwiches (as noted above)

 

Challah bread pudding with chocolate and caramel sauce

Challah Bread Pudding With Chocolate and Caramel Sauce

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

My bread pudding turned out a tad bit dry, so I upped the amount of half-and-half in the recipe below from 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 loaf Challah bread, cut into cubes (6 to 7 cups)
  • 2 cups half-and-half
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large mixing bowl, combine half and half, eggs, white sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Whisk thoroughly. Add cubed challah bread. Allow the bread to sit in the egg mixture for a couple of minutes to soak up as much of the liquid as possible. Stir in chocolate chips.
  2. Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish. Pour bread mixture into pan. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until bread pudding is set and lightly golden brown. Serve with caramel sauce (follow link above for recipe).

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