Until this week I had never been a fan of chocolate bread and butter pudding. It always seemed too sweet or too bitter dependent on the recipe that I followed. However, I found a recipe on someone’s blog for one that used cocoa powder in the custard and almonds instead of fruit, so I gave the idea a little more thought. This recipe uses the same method but the ingredients have been altered to my family’s taste.

Ingredients (serves 4)
200g brioche, preferably stale, cut into 1cm cubes
35g caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp sea salt crystals
400ml full fat milk
100g chocolate drops or chunks (I use 60% cocoa solids chocolate when cooking as I find 70% or over dominates the other flavours)
50g blanched almonds – roughly chopped

Method
Find a dish with a flat base and lay out the cubes of brioche over the base.
Gently whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, eggs, vanilla, sea salt and milk and pour it over the brioche.
Put the dish into the fridge for about an hour so that the custard seeps into the bread.
…50 minutes later…
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees centigrade or equivalent.
…10 minutes later…
½ fill 4 x 250ml ramekins with the soggy bread mixture. Use up half of the chocolate and almonds by spreading them on top of each dish. Repeat with the rest of the bread, then top with the rest of the chocolate and almonds.
Put the ramekins into a roasting pan (or other high sided pan) and pour just boiled water into the pan, up to 2/3 the height of the ramekins.
Bake the puddings for 20-25 mins, they should still have a little bit of wobble when they come out.
They are prefect on their own but I like mine with cream poured into a hole I make in the middle.