Half Baked Bread Pudding "Ice Cream"

Have y'all seen the new show, Sugar High, hosted by Duff Goldman on the Food Network? If you haven't you should, go set your DVR right now. It's like Diners, Drive In's, & Dives but for dessert-minded people (which I love). I was so excited when I saw the preview for this show, and the premiere did not disappoint. The first episode featured Schulzies Bread Pudding in California. I have never really been a bread pudding fan, but I watched on to see what her twist on an old classic would be. Ends up, she makes it completely different. Instead of serving the bread pudding hot, like we have probably all had it as kids, she serves it cold, scooped like ice cream (look at my picture, doesn't it really look like ice cream). I was instantly intrigued because I didn't like bread pudding because of it being hot and soggy. She insisted to Duff, that by chilling it, the pudding would become similar to a custard or an ice cream. So I thought, why not... let's give this a try. I just had to decide on a flavor. She has 108 flavors available to try... YES, that is the correct number. I didn't mess it up, I promise. Anyway, I looked at a few flavors and decided to kind of go with what I was craving. I ended up making "Half Baked Bread Pudding", which is inspired from the Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor. I had already once remade Phish Food ice cream before, so I figured I'd use another flavor as inspiration. I used Italian bread, brownies, chocolate chips, and cookie dough to make this bread pudding "ice cream", and it turned out great! Once it is cold, it really does taste similar to ice cream. If you don't like bread pudding, I'd really give it a try... it's just a totally different take on something you would never expect. Enjoy :)

Half Baked Bread Pudding "Ice Cream"

For the Bread Pudding:

2C Sugar

5 Large Eggs, Beaten

2C Milk

2t Vanilla

1 ½C Italian Bread, Stale & Torn into Bite-Size Pieces

1 ½C Brownie Pieces

½C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

½C White Chocolate Chips

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

5T Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/3C Light Brown Sugar

3T Sugar

¼t Salt

1t Vanilla

¾C Flour

2/3C Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. To Make the Bread Pudding: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 13x9 baking dish with Pam, and set it aside. Place the torn Italian bread pieces, brownie pieces, and chocolate chips into the pan (mixed together). Mix together the sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla, and vanilla bean in a bowl until smooth.  Pour the batter over the bread pieces in the pan and let it sit for 10 minutes.
2. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until set. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool for 15-20 minutes, and then cover with tin foil and refrigerate overnight until chilled.
3. To Make the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth and thoroughly combined, about 1 minute. Mix in the flour on low speed, and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips. Set this aside until ready to mix into the chilled bread pudding.
4. To Mix Up the Bread Pudding: Once the bread pudding has chilled and set in the refrigerator overnight, get the pan out and using your hands break up the pudding until it is light and fluffy (into pieces). Get your prepared cookie dough mixture and form them into rough balls and the place them evenly throughout the torn bread pudding mixture.
5. To Serve the Half-Baked Bread Pudding “Ice Cream”: Scoop the bread pudding into bowls and serve with some whipped cream.

source: the best bread pudding. 


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