Frangelico Chocolate Bread Pudding Cupcakes
P loves bread pudding. He classifies his ideal desserts as dense, warm, and creamy so bread pudding definitely fits that bill. If there is bread pudding on the menu at a restaurant that is what we are getting for dessert. Don't get me wrong I like it too and we have had a lot of really good bread pudding but never a chocolate bread pudding. So as the theme of my life lately has been that really good blogs and sites have been closing this is from one my favorite blogs and if you have a chance look through the archives. They are really good and inspirational. This bread pudding is portion controlled which is great and with a dollop of whipped cream these are really delicious. The Frangelico is subtle and nice back ground note. P agrees that is meets all of his dessert requirements so give these Bread Pudding Cupcakes a go.
Frangelico Chocolate Bread Pudding Cupcakes
3 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
1 1lb loaf of challah bread
10 ounces of Semi Sweet chocolate, chopped - I used Scharffenberger
8 large egg yolk
3/4 cup of sugar
4 tablespoons of Frangelico
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium sauce pan over medium high heat, whisk together the cream, half and half, vanilla and cocoa powder. Bring this to a boil while continually stirring. Once it has come to a boil remove it from the heat and cover the mixture with plastic wrap with the wrap touching the top of the cream mixture.* Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes. Chop the bread into 1/2 inch cubes and place in a large bowl and set aside. Remove the plastic wrap from the cream mixture and bring it back to a boil, once it has come back to a boil, stir in the chopped chocolate. Remove it from the heat again and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Add in the Frangelico and stir to combine. In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks and sugar, slowly add in the warm chocolate mixture, whisk constantly until combined. Pour the mixture over the bread, stirring to cover all of the cubes. Cover the bread and chocolate with plastic wrap and let sit for 15 so that the bread can soak up the chocolate. Once the 15 minutes is up fill each muffin cup with bread cubes until they are level with the top of the cup. Pour the remaining chocolate mixture into the muffin cups until they are nearly full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pudding no longer jiggles and a cake tester comes out with custard pieces attached. Let cool on racks in the pan for 10 minutes then remove from the pan and cool on the rack. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Then you can reheat in the microwave for 20 seconds or oven for a few minutes.
* I waited a few minutes before I put the plastic wrap on it the cream I was afraid the wrap might melt.