Strawberry Nutella Bread Pudding

Stephanie was amusingly amazed to find out that this bread pudding in fact really tasted like bread pudding. As if it’s something you can only acquire from a restaurant. Apparently, you too can have real bread pudding straight from your kitchen!

This was actually the first time I’ve ever made bread pudding, so it was fun to have it all come together. And despite having been stuffed with Eggplant Parmesan and everything else on the dinner menu, we still had more than enough room for dessert once we laid our eyes on this baby. Barely let it cool off before we dished it out, but made for a perfect set up for the ice cream to melt a little – Mmmm. Nothing makes a dessert better than a scoop of ice cream on top!

Ingredients:

PUDDING

12 slices one-day old Italian bread

1-1/2 cup Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread

1 cup fresh sliced strawberries

2 cups whole milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

STRAWBERRY SAUCE

1 cup fresh strawberries

1 Tbsp white rum

1 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp lime juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the middle. Grease a 1.5 quart pan with butter, set aside.
2. Spread Nutella onto one side of each slice of bread, sandwich together. Cut each sandwich in half, and place in prepared casserole dish, cut-side down and insert strawberries slices in between the sandwiches.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, salt and vanilla until warm. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the 1 cup sugar and eggs. Slowly add the cream mixture to the egg mixture, and then pour over the bread. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and let sit, covered with foil for 5 minutes.
4. While the bread pudding sits, prepare the strawberry sauce: Process all the ingredients together and allow to refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
5. Bake the covered bread pudding for 20 minutes, then remove the cover and allow to cook until the pudding is set, and it is golden brown and crisp on top (approximately 15-20 minutes). Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.

Top with strawberry sauce, and even some ice cream!

Source: Bread Pudding adapted from What’s Cookin’ Italian Style Cuisine, Strawberry Sauce also adapted from another post on What’s Cookin’ Italian Style Cuisine