Chocolate Orange Challah Bread Pudding

You know what’s totally out of this world incredible? Bread pudding. You know what’s one of the best flavor combinations you could ever imagine? Chocolate and orange. You know my favorite type of bread of all time? Challah (/brioche/egg bread in general). Put them together and what’s the result? The best dessert in the whole wide world.

I know I told you that about this cake I shared recently. I said I could probably eat only that cake if I was limited to just one dessert for the rest of my life (which is basically my worst nightmare, for what it’s worth). But I found another dessert I could eat day in day out, and probably only fall more and more in love with every time.

If I told you how long ago I made this recipe, you’d poo-poo me as a food blogger (we’re talking months), but fortunately the chocolate and orange combo isn’t exactly seasonal, so I think you could make this dessert anytime and it’s still be perfectly appropriate. And even if you’re not a huge fan of chocolate and orange together, this recipe is so easy to adapt, so fear not!

The “recipe” I used is actually more of a set of basic rules to guide you through the process of making bread pudding. It outlines the basic formula that you need to stick to in order to achieve a pleasing result, but gives you the creative freedom to add in any flavorings or other additions that you please.

I opted for chocolate and orange, a classic combination that worked out ridiculously well in this application. There’s something pretty magical about the combination of gooey bread pudding, molten chocolate chips, and fresh orange zest throughout.

To try this yourself, follow along with Food 52’s How to Make Bread Pudding Without a Recipe, and feel free to use my combination of ingredients, listed below!

• 1 pound day-old challah loaf, cubed into roughly 1″ pieces
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark is fine)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur (like Cointreau or Gran Gala)
• Zest of 1 orange
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips or chunks

I guarantee this will make your heart sing. And your belly very, very happy.

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