For her corporate and private events at Cooking by the Book — over 250 a year — Suzen prepares menus to let clients customize their meal. If you look at all the combinations of appetizers, sides, main courses, and desserts, it is mathematically improbably that any two events would have exactly the same menu selection. Really improbable: 1 chance in 10,000.
And yet, it happens over and over again. It’s almost in the air everyone breathes: “We’ll do the Caesar Salad with the Baked Chicken and String Beans Sautéed with Onion and the Chocolate Brioche Pudding.” It just happens all the time.
Suzen and I, and her staff, dine on whatever the clients have chosen. So, time and again, we eat that salad and that chicken and those beans and the bread pudding.
I can tire of that salad and that chicken and those beans. But I never, never tire of this dessert. It is so good, so soft, so chocolaty, and oh so much fun to watch people make. For their event, our guests can often volunteer for what dish they will work on. Who is going to volunteer for green beans, seriously? Volunteer for Chocolate Brioche Pudding? People flock to make it and everyone, everyone enjoys this treat from first to last bite.
You can eat this on its own, but some whipped cream or ice cream are the obvious suspects. Don’t worry. You don’t have to choose one. You will make this over and over again.
The secret to this recipe is to use brioche, a sweet soft bread that was meant to be married to chocolate milk, heavy cream and eggs.
Chocolate Brioche Pudding
Yield: serves 12, no really just 6, people will return for seconds!
Ingredients:
- 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 brioche loaf
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, halved
- 16 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 8 large eggs
- 2-quart baking dish, buttered
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Melt the butter and cool it slightly.
Cut the brioche loaf in half, and cut one of the halves into thin slices. Cut remaining half brioche into 1/2-inch dice.
Put diced brioche in the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with half the butter. Dip one side of each slice of brioche into remaining butter and arrange, slightly overlapping and buttered side up, over the top of diced brioche.
Combine the milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla bean in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat, add chocolate, and allow standing 3 minutes; whisking smooth.
Whisk the eggs until liquid in a large mixing bowl, then strain the milk mixture into the eggs and beat them together. Do not overbeat or the custard will have a great deal of foam on the surface. Strain the custard back into the pan and use a large spoon to skim any foam from the surface. Pour the custard over the brioche in the dish, so that the bread is evenly soaked and rises to the surface.
Place the baking dish in another larger pan and pour warm water into it to come halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake the bread pudding for about 45 minutes, until the custard is set and the brioche is an even color.
Source: Chocolate by Nick Malgieri [William Morrow, 2014]
Photo Information: Canon T2i, EFS 60mm Macro Lens, F/5.6 for 1/60th second at ISO‑3200