TWD: four star chocolate bread pudding

Another chocolatey recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie this week.  Selected by Lauren of the Upper East Side Chronicle (check out her site for the full recipe and what this is supposed to look like).  Nothing hits the spot like bread pudding when it is 92º in April.  I've never had a desire for bread pudding. Something about chopped up bread reminds me too much of stuffing to sound appealing as a dessert.  But that is the joy of TWD. It makes you try things you wouldn't necessarily bake. We had some friends over for dinner on Saturday night, including the lovely Erin from Dog Is My Sous Chef, so I decided it would be a great opportunity to make the bread pudding.  

I danced and boogied in the kitchen with my ipod as I baked since the husband was doing homework on the couch. I had a great time until I mixed together my eggs and boiled milk/cream. Where was the custard Dorie speaks of? I had chocolate milk.  I then frantically reread the recipe trying to figure out what I did wrong. I still don't know. I fretted for a bit but crossed my fingers, hoped for the best, and poured it all over the bread mixture. My chocolate also didn't fully incorporate so after I poured it on top of the bread and cherries there was a little (okay a lot of) separating. My poor bread pudding also failed to puff. I was expecting a delicious puffy chocolatey dessert and instead it resembled soggy bread with chocolate milk poured on top. I tried not to judge my homely bread pudding based on its looks but what was on the inside.  

Oh, but what was inside wasn't so great either. Poor not so good tasting bread pudding. Homely and not yummy; maybe it can be saved by a good personality? You are probably looking at the above picture thinking "I thought this was called four star chocolate bread pudding, where's the chocolate?" Me too. I swear I added 6 0z of bittersweet chocolate to the egg/milk/cream mixture. I think when I turned my back the chocolate fairy came and stole it. Greedy fairy.  

I made some whipped cream and served it to the friends (after stuffing them full of thai pizza, shrimp sate and peanut sauce) and they all nicely said it was good. I thought the consistency was slimy which turned me off and the taste wasn't so great as to make up for the bread slugs sitting in my mouth. I'm just not a bread pudding kind of girl or I completely and utterly fucked this recipe up. Erin lied said that it tasted like bread pudding and she actually likes bread pudding so maybe I didn't do too bad. Next time I want some bread and chocolate I think I'll stick with Nutella and toast.   

As you can see from my pictures I am missing Dorie's chocolatey deliciousness. What is delicious though are my two favorites, Charlie and Willa. I read Charlie the comments from last week's TWD entry discussing how beautiful and gorgeous he is and it all went to his head. He is now strutting around the house (belly flapping back and forth) shooting Willa looks of superiority and swatting at her as she walks by. He was kind enough (or too lazy to make her move) to let little Willa stay in the background of this shot instead of swatting her out of the way.

On a baking side note.  The husband and I decided to end the lovely weekend with a run/bike ride.  He runs and I ride the bike.  I can't remember the last time I rode my bike which would explain the flat tires. The husband filled the tires at the gas station and noticed that the front tire bulged a bit. When we parked I hopped on the bike and pushed it testing the tires and immediately commented that the front tire bulged and kept rubbing the brakes. I (being a total chicken) didn't want to see what would happen if I actually rode the thing so the husband kindly offered to give it a test run. He rode down the street and as he came up to three lovely women running together the front tire blew. It sounded like a gunshot. The three women screamed and crouched down with their hands over their heads imagining bullets flying. I, however, laughed so hard tears were running down my face. I couldn't breath. So much for the bike ride. We just went for a walk instead. 

I wish the story ended here but oh no, the husband had some more fun and excitement up his sleeve. We finished our lovely walk and he asked that I drive home. I rarely drive. I pretty much hate it. I would much rather sit co-pilot and nap. But since he so bravely rode my bike I agreed. As we were driving off I noticed something in my rearview mirror but just figured that I hit something lying in the road. As soon as we got home the husband started looking everywhere in the car for his wallet. As soon as he said "I can't find my wallet," I had a pretty good inkling what I saw in my rearview mirror.  On the way back to where we walked he kept mumbling, "I put my wallet on the roof with my phone, how can I have my phone and not the wallet, why would I just leave the wallet?" Thankfully we found the wallet with all of its contents safely tucked inside.  And the great mystery of how he could leave the wallet and not his phone was answered when we found my phone smashed in the middle of the street. You can't really do anything but laugh.  

Check out all the other TWD bloggers to get a better idea of what this recipe should look like.

This week I rocked and rolled and baked to this song:

Lights & Music - Cut Copy