Chocolate bread pudding with two chocolate sauces and almond bark

Preparation

Baking Directions:

Scatter the bread cubes in a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish.

Set aside.

In a heavy 3-quart saucepan, combine the cream, milk, and 1½ cups sugar.

Cut the piece of vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape the tiny beans into the cream mixture.

(Discard the scraped bean pod or add it to granulated or powdered sugar to make vanilla sugar.)

Bring the cream mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking constantly until the sugar dissolves, then whisking occasionally.

Add the chocolate chips and continue cooking until the chocolate is melted, about two minutes more, whisking frequently and being sure to scrape the pan bottom clean as you whisk.

Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk the eggs until frothy.

Very slowly add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly so the eggs don’t curdle.

Pour this custard mixture over the bread.

Let the custard sit until cool enough for you to put your hands in it, about 10 minutes.

Once the custard has cooled enough, toss the bread cubes with your hands, squeezing the cubes in the liquid to make sure all are well saturated.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

About 3 hours before baking the pudding, remove the pan of pudding from the refrigerator, and evenly sprinkle the top with remaining sugar.

Let the pudding sit at room temperature for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the pudding has sat 45 minutes, seal the baking dish with aluminum foil.

Bake the pudding until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean and the pudding looks solidified with no puddles of liquid on the surface, about 2 hours.

Once done, it will also start developing a few small, shallow cracks on top and there will be an irresistible smell of chocolate emanating from the oven.

Remove the pudding from the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Chocolate sauce: In a heavy 1-quart saucepan, combine the cream and sugar.

Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, whisking until the sugar is dissolved.

Reduce the heat to low and gradually add the chocolate chips, whisking until each addition is completely melted into the cream before adding more.

Add the butter and continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the butter is incorporated into the sauce.

Remove from the heat.

Serve the sauce while it’s still warm, or, once it’s cool, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to reheat for serving.

It will keep for up to 1 week covered and refrigerated.

When ready to serve, reheat in the top of a double boiler over hot (not simmering) water, whisking constantly to keep the sauce from scorching.

  White chocolate sauce: In a heavy 1-quart saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over high heat.

Add the brown sugar, whisking thoroughly.

Whisk in the granulated sugar and continue cooking and whisking about 30 seconds more.

Remove from heat.

Cut the piece of vanilla bean in half lengthwise, scrape the tiny beans into the sauce, and whisk to blend.

Serve the sauce while it’s still warm, or, once it’s cool, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to reheat for serving.

It will keep for at least 1 week covered and refrigerated.

When ready to serve, reheat in the top of a double boiler over hot (not simmering) water, whisking constantly to keep the sauce from scorching.

Almond bark: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Roast the almonds in a small baking pan until light golden, about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Watch them carefully so they don’t over-brown.

Line a rimmed baking sheet, about 17 inches x 12 inches x 1 inch (deep), with parchment paper.

Set aside.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over hot (not simmering) water, stirring until smooth.

Remove the top of the pan from over the hot water when the chips are about halfway melted to stir thoroughly.

Once the chocolate is smooth, remove it from heat and promptly pour it onto the baking sheet, spreading it in a thin, even layer with an icing spatula.

Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 15 minutes.

While the bittersweet chocolate is chilling, melt the white chocolate chips as you did the dark ones.

Take extra care to heat the white chocolate over very low heat, since white chocolate scorches more easily than dark chocolate.

Also, wash and thoroughly dry the icing spatula.

  Once the white chocolate has melted and the bittersweet chocolate is firm, remove the dark chocolate from the refrigerator.

Immediately spread the white chocolate evenly over the bittersweet chocolate with the icing spatula, working quickly so the warmth of the white chocolate barely has time to melt the bittersweet chocolate.

(Don’t worry if it melts a little; it will give the white chocolate a pretty marbled look.)

Promptly sprinkle the almonds over the white chocolate, breaking them into coarse crumbs as you go, and gently pressing them into the chocolate to make sure they stick.

Refrigerate the candy, uncovered, until just firm.

After 30-40 minutes, the candy should be firm enough to break into rough 2-inch pieces of “bark.”

  Don’t refrigerate until very firm before breaking into bark or the chocolate will be more difficult to break up.

Use immediately or keep refrigerated, separated by sheets of wax paper (or parchment paper), in airtight containers.

The candy will keep at least 1 week.

   Serving suggestion: Cut the pudding into eight to 12 equal-size rectangles and place on heated dessert plates.

Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of the chocolate sauce on one half of each portion of pudding and the same amount of white chocolate sauce over the other half of the pudding.

Position a piece of almond bark upright in the center of each serving for garnish.

Refrigerate any leftover pudding and sauces.