Chocolate-Cranberry Bread Pudding

In honor of Mardi Gras, let's wrap this week on Fat Tuesday with a decadent spin on one of my most requested and comforting desserts.

I like to use day-old French Bread in bread pudding because it has more flavor than the gummy white kind. Cinnamon-raisin bread, sweet rolls, even left over Irish soda bread can also be substituted for part of the bread. Puree some seasonal berries for a sauce or serve with a little chocolate sauce, spiked for festive gatherings.

For More Mardi Gras Recipes: 

 Jambalaya 

 Gumbo Time 

Galani 

Chocolate Sauce 

Laissez les bons temps rouler 

Chocolate-Cranberry Bread Pudding Recipe

Makes 10-12 servings | From George Hirsch Living it UP! TV series
chefgeorgehirsch.com 

3-4 cups cubed dry French bread
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup dried cranberry, raisins, or craisins plumped in 1 cup hot water for 5 minutes
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
4 cups milk
8 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla
1 Teaspoon nutmeg 

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, butter, and beat with a whisk until well blended. Slowly pour over the bread, cranberry/raisin, nut and chocolate mixture. Poke the bread so that it’s completely covered with the milk mixture and let sit for 10-15 minutes.  

Place a pan larger than the cake pan or skillet in preheated oven and place the pan holding the bead pudding inside. Immediately fill the outer pan with enough hot water so that it comes up one inch on the sides of the bread-pudding pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the pan from the water bath, reduce the temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 25 additional minutes.

Remove the bread-pudding and allow to set for two hours before removing it from the pan.

Serve with warm fruit, vanilla or chocolate sauce.

chefgeorgehirsch.com 

You Love Chocolate

TREND #4. Chocolate Ingredient

Would you like to see the chocolate menu? Who would say no to this offer? This flavorful, sometimes exotic ingredient will be added to more than ice cream sundaes and moles. What used to be considered a dessert or sweet treat will be added to more savory dishes as an ingredient. The transparency here—I really do not care for chocolate, so my personal preference didn't influence this 2012 trend pick. 

Click to see more of George's Cooking & Lifestyle Trends for 2012.

For the traditionalists who want chocolate as a sweet, here are a few chocolate dessert favorites to make this Valentine's Day!

teuscher

Chocolates of Switzerland

Teuscher Chocolates was founded more than 70 years ago in a small town in the Swiss Alps. A master chocolate maker embarked on a path that would make him one of the world's greatest chocolatiers. Dolf Teuscher skillfully blended the world's finest and only natural ingredients to produce his now famous recipes. Chocolates are prepared fresh in the Zurich kitchen and flown directly to all their stores in Europe, the United States, Canada and Asia.
Frank on Swiss - post.

Opened in 1979, a visit to the Fifth Avenue store, nestled in the Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center - has become a tradition for New Yorkers and visitors from around the globe. The beautifully decorated store overflows with colorful fantasy flowers and unique trademark boxes. Teuscher's famous Champagne Truffles, pralines and marzipans are hand-made and flown in weekly from Switzerland. 

Teuschers house speciality, the famous Champagne Truffle made with a champagne cream center, surrounded by dark chocolate ganache, covered with milk chocolate and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

More On Chocolate

For Chocolate Lovers

Chocolat L'Africain

Santa's Sgroppino

Here's a Christmas toast for you. Cheers!

All Champagne, by definition, must come from vineyards in the Champagne region of France. This is a small region comprising three districts which include the towns of Reims, Troyes, Charleville-Mezier and Chalons. Prosecco, produced in the Veneto region of Italy is considered an everyday drink or sparkling wine. Unlike most Champagne it does not improve with age and should really be consumed within six months of the time it’s purchased, or within a year of bottling. It tends to be dryer than many Champagnes. ideal to serve with my  Sweet Spicy Holiday Snack. A good Prosecco, is inexpensive and very drinkable; right for any occasion even a Christmas breakfast, Santa would approve!

For George's Sweet Holiday Snack Recipe

Sgroppino Italian Cocktail 
Recipe by George Hirsch | Chill 4-6 Champagne flutes 

2 cups chilled Prosecco (Italian sparkling white wine) 
2 Tablespoons chilled vodka
1 cup frozen lemon sorbet 
2 Tablespoons half & half 
4 fresh strawberries, split for garnish 
4 fresh mint leaves 

Mix Prosecco, vodka, sorbet and half & half in blender for 1 minute. Pour mixture immediately into chilled champagne flutes. Top with berries and mint. 

The Fruit Whisperer

This is a serious topic at my house—knowing when to cut into a perfectly ripened piece of fruit. There is a fine line between unripened and overripe. Here are a few ideas that may help widen that window of use for your pears. Are you ever stuck, trying to make a different salad? Try slicing a ripe pear with feta or blue cheese. Has that pear on the counter over-ripened? Don't fret, chop it up and add it to a spicey soup or make a decandent dessert like my Roasted Pears with Raspberry Sauce which is ideal during the holiday season!

Roasted Pears and Raspberry Sauce
by George Hirsch | 4 Four Servings

4 ripe Bosc or Anjou pears
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons cinnamon sugar
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1 cup seedless raspberry preserves
2 Tablespoons orange juice
4 sprigs of fresh mint

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut pears lengthwise into half, remove the cores.  Grease a non stick pan with butter.  Place quartered pears in pan and top with cinnamon sugar.  Cover pears and bake for 8-12 minutes or until slightly soft.  The time will vary according to level of ripeness.  Remove from oven and cool.

In a sauce pan simmer three fourths of the raspberries, the preserves, and orange juice for 4-5 minutes.  Press the sauce through a strainer, discarding the seeds.  

Pour the sauce evenly onto four dessert dishes, topping each with two pear halves.  Add the remaining raspberries on top of pears.  Top with fresh mint leaves.