Indulge Your Sweet Tooth with this irresistible Chocolate Bread Pudding with Brioche. This beloved comfort food takes the traditional approach when making Bread Pudding by using day old bread, eggs, milk and sugar. But there’s a pleasant twist with Brioche, Belgian Chocolate, cream and chocolate chips being added. The result is a more decadent version of the original – airy and buttery, creamy and rich. Enjoy!
This Chocolate chip Brioche Bread Pudding recipe has step by step instructions, ingredient substitutions, variations of the original recipe, serving suggestions and useful tips for success.
What Is Chocolate Bread Pudding with Brioche?
Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding is an elevated take on a comforting classic. With the richness of brioche and the decadence of melted Belgian chocolate, it’s a dessert (or brunch item) that’s perfect for holidays, family get togethers, or as a special treat to end any meal. Served warm with ice or whipped cream, or enjoyed on its own, this dessert will be well received. Scroll down to see more serving suggestions including – toppings, sauces and wines that pair well with this Chocolate Chip Brioche Chocolate Pudding.
Why is this Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding Recipe Special?
This recipe takes the standard approach to making traditional Bread Pudding. All the typical ingredients are present but there’s a twist! These ingredients appear in a slightly elevated form. I’ll explain:
- Instead of the standard stale white bread, Brioche, a sweet, buttery French bread, is used. Brioche ups the level of richness of this Pudding.
- This recipe uses Belgian chocolate because of its high-quality cocoa content sourced from West African cocoa beans with a complex flavor profile. Melted Belgian chocolate is added to the custard. This rich taste experience permeates through the Bread Pudding.
- In addition to the Belgian chocolate, there’s more chocolate added in the form of chocolate chips. I used dark chocolate and sea salt chocolate chips, but any flavor should work.
- Heavy whipping cream (double cream) is used in addition to whole milk. Might as well totally blow the calories and enjoy this cozy indulgence.
Why Use Brioche?
Brioche is becoming more widespread (and affordable) over the past few years. The days of it being a specialty bread are long since gone. Brioche has all the usual yeast bread ingredients, such as flour, yeast, and water, but it is further enriched by the addition of eggs, butter and cream. These ingredients lend themselves to the soft, fluffy crumb and rich buttery texture. Using Brioche that is at least one day old, makes the bread more absorbent to liquid. With more custard being absorbed, the end result is a lighter Brioche Bread Pudding with Chocolate.
Brioche is commonly sold in the form of a sliced loaf, bun or bagel. Brioche is a good bread choice for any type of sweet or savory sandwich. I use it for Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
Ingredients for this Brioche Chocolate Bread Pudding Recipe
- Bread: I used Brioche, but any type of bread that is slightly stale works best. Similar breads would be Texas toast, sweet Hawaiian, any type of white bread, sourdough, bagel, English muffin or cinnamon swirl. An assortment of these breads will work. Avoid savory breads with herbs, garlic or cheese, or bread that has mold.
- Chocolate: this is entirely a personal choice, but I recommend using Belgian Chocolate for its richness and flavor. Failing that, use a dark or semisweet chocolate bar or chocolate chips.
- Eggs: needed to create the custard.
- Milk & Cream: the combination of whole milk and heavy cream creates a richer custard.
- Sugar : brown sugar to sweeten the custard. Brown sugar adds a slight molasses flavor. White sugar can be used as a substitute.
- Butter: (not pictured) is used to grease the baking dish. It can also be melted and added to the custard (optional.)
- Chocolate chips: (optional) used to increase the chocolate level of the Bread Pudding.
How to Make Chocolate Bread Pudding with Brioche
Here are step-by-step instructions for making brioche chocolate bread pudding.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C.
Break the Brioche into bite sized chunks.
Place half of them in a greased ovenproof dish. Sprinkle a third of the quantity of chocolate chips over the bread.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave (about a minute on high) and add the sugar and eggs and mix together.
Pour in the cream.
Then pour in the milk.
Blend the chocolate custard well and set beside the Brioche.
Pour half the chocolate custard over the Brioche.
Add the rest of the Brioche to the ovenproof dish, and half of the remaining packet of chocolate chips.
Pour the remaining half of the chocolate custard over the freshly added Brioche.
Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top of the Bread Pudding and place it in the oven for about 30 – 35 minutes.
Serving Suggestions:
There are a variety of ways how to serve Chocolate Bread Pudding with Brioche:
Top with Berries or Nuts – Fresh berries (like raspberries or strawberries) or toasted nuts (such as almonds or pecans) can provide a nice color and texture contrast to the richness of this Pudding. My personal favorite is adding chopped honey roasted peanuts.
Pair with Ice Cream or Whipped Cream – you can’t go wrong with adding more dairy to this Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread Pudding. It pairs perfectly with a scoop of ice cream or freshly whipped cream.
Drizzle with Sauce – the number of different sauces to drizzle on top seems to be endless. The main contenders appear to be chocolate, caramel, and vanilla. This vanilla sauce is perfect for Chocolate Brioche Bread Pudding. Save a little eggnog during the holiday season for the perfect seasonal Bread Pudding drizzle. My favorite sauce for this Bread Pudding is hot fudge sauce thinned with a little Baileys Irish Cream.
Pair it with Wine – port is classically paired with Chocolate. Tawny or ruby ports will work. Sweeter wines are key in this pairing, such as a late harvest Riesling. For something bubbly, I recommend a Moscato d’Asti or a Rosé for something unexpected.
Variations of Chocolate Chip Brioche Chocolate Pudding
Use this recipe to make the following variations:
- Chocolate orange bread and butter pudding: Use Terry’s chocolate orange instead of Belgian chocolate or add 3-4 tbsp of orange coffee syrup to the custard, along with 2-4 tbsp of melted butter.
- Panettone bread pudding, substitute French based Brioche with Italian Panettone. Use the same amount.
- White Chocolate: Use a white chocolate bar and white chocolate chips to produce a very different Bread Pudding with chocolate chips. Technically, there is no such thing as ‘white chocolate’. I explain why here.
- Baileys Brioche Bread and butter Pudding: Use the original posted recipe but omit one egg. Add 4 tbsps of Baileys Irish Cream (or similar) and 2 tbsps of butter to the custard. Continue following the recipe.
- Brioche, raspberry and white Chocolate Pudding: Similar to the variation above, use white chocolate bars and chips. Layer in 6 oz / 170g of fresh or frozen raspberries. Continue following the recipe.
A Tip From Me
Tips for Success:
- Use stale bread: it will soak up more custard and produce a moister pudding.
- Let it soak: let the bread soak in the custard for at least an hour or preferably overnight.
- Use good-quality chocolate: Since chocolate is one of the stars of the dish, go for a good-quality chocolate, that’s why I recommend Belgian chocolate. Why use Belgian Chocolate? -because of its high-quality cocoa content, its pure cocoa butter content and its complex flavor profile. This rich taste experience permeates through to any recipe using Belgian chocolate as an ingredient. The better the chocolate, the better your bread pudding will taste.
- Don’t overbake: Bread pudding should be custardy in the center, meaning it should be moist. Over baking Bread Pudding will make it dry. Check for doneness by gently shaking the pan—if the center is still a bit wobbly, it’s done.
Got Questions?
I’ve got answers – hopefully!
Brioche adds richness, butteriness, and a slight sweetness to the bread pudding. A straightforward white bread cannot provide these attributes.
Chocolate Bread Pudding freezes well. Freeze for up to 3 months, defrost in the refrigerator overnight and warm in the microwave or oven before consuming – enjoy!
Reheat in the microwave or pre heated oven. Microwave works best for individual portions. In the microwave choose a lower power around 6-7 and microwave for about 30 seconds. It all depends on the size of Bread Pudding portion. Continue to microwave until the piece is heated through. Reheat in a preheated (350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C.) oven for about 15-20 minutes until heated through. A toaster oven would be the best appliance to use for reheating.
Chocolate Bread Pudding with Brioche
Ingredients
- 12 oz Brioche Use bread loaf, buns, or baguettes.
- 5 oz Belgian dark chocolate Or semi sweet chocolate chips
- 4 oz cream heavy whipping / double.
- 4 oz whole milk
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 7 oz chocolate chips
- 4 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. / 180 degrees C.
- Break the Brioche into bite sized chunks and place half of them in a greased ovenproof dish. Sprinkle a third of the quantity of chocolate chips over the bread.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave (about a minute on high) and add the sugar and eggs and mix together.
- Add the cream and then the milk to the chocolate mixture to make a custard.
- Pour half the chocolate custard over the Brioche.
- Add the rest of the Brioche to the ovenproof dish, and half of the remaining packet of chocolate chips.
- Pour the remaining half of the chocolate custard over the freshly added Brioche.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips over the top of the bread pudding and place it in the oven for about 30 – 35 minutes. It should feel set, but slightly wobbly when shaken.
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