I was feeling a little spontaneous a couple of days ago and decided to try something new. We had a loaf of chocolate cranberry bread in our kitchen that we had gotten from the clearance bread rack at Fred Meyer, and I wanted to make something with it. I immediately thought of bread pudding.

I searched up a simple recipe for bread pudding, one that could be tweaked for my own baking needs, and I went for it. This was my first attempt ever at making bread pudding, and I don’t mean to toot my own horn or anything, but it was an all-around success!

I plan to make this again for the holidays, given it is the perfect dessert for Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe I’ll go one step further and serve it with vanilla ice cream next time! It was so much fun experimenting and trying new things in the kitchen, and I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my husband and I did!

If you also want to look at the recipe I based my altered recipe off of, you can find it here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/7177/bread-pudding-ii/

Find the recipe for Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding below! Enjoy!

Recipe: Chocolate Cranberry Bread Pudding

Servings: 6 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 45 minutes

This delicious bread pudding is perfect for all of your dessert needs. Holidays? Check! Family gatherings? Check! Movie night? Double Check!

Recipe Notes: This recipe can work with any type of day-old bread. I used the Chocolate Cranberry Bread from Fred Meyer, usually from the discount baked goods section. Make sure to let the bread pudding set properly before serving, at least one hour.

Ingredients

6-8 slices of Chocolate Cranberry Bread

2 Tablespoons of butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups milk

3/4 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. Cut bread into small cubes and place in a medium sized baking dish. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the bread chunks.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract. Mix well. Pour mixture over bread and lightly push down with a fork to allow the bread to soak up the liquid.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes, until it springs back when tapped.
  5. Let cool and serve. Store leftovers in either an airtight container or cover original baking dish at keep in the fridge. Pudding will continue to set the longer it is in the refrigerator (it tasted the best on day three in my opinion!)