Chocolate-Cinnamon Bread Pudding

Chocolate Cinnamon Bread Pudding

Total time:  Approximately 50 minutes.

It’s imitation bread pudding at its finest. Don’t ever try to pass this off as a real bread pudding, especially to southern grandmas. Adapted from Kraft Food & Family’s Rustic Chocolate-Cinnamon Bread Pudding.

6-8 slices of bread, cubed (or in my case, 6 hot dog buns!!)
1 3/4 cup milk*
1/2 cup cream cheese*
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Slice of warm tasty goodness.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cheese and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, cinnamon, and nutmeg; mix well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly and mix well.

Place bread in 8-inch square baking dish; top with cream cheese mixture and chocolate chips.

Bake 30 to 35 min. or until set in center. Cool slightly.

* I prefer everything to be room temperature when I’m baking. Lesson I learned from popovers… Does it make a difference here? I’m not sure, but I’m not willing to find out. Let me know if you do. 😉

For next time, I’m going to layer the chocolate in between half the bread. Something just seemed odd about having the chocolate on top (other than clinging to my spatula while trying to serve).