Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

We all make mistakes. It’s what we do about our mistakes that matters. Let me explain. I was making a bunch of mini brownies for a kid’s program. The kids are going to decorate them. There are 50 kids, so I needed quite a few. I was using my mini muffin pans, and when I was getting ready to remove a batch, they stuck. I was sure I had greased the pan, but I guess not enough. The others had come out easily enough. I made more, but had this pile of crumbled brownies. I was going to just dump them, but my frugal nature prevailed. I decided to turn them into a bread pudding. I wanted something to cut the sweetness/denseness of the brownies, so I thought maybe a fruit element. I had a can of cherries in the pantry. Just plain cherries, canned in water- not pie filling and not sweetened. Like the flavor combination in a Black Forest Cake. It was pretty simple after that. I make bread puddings often. I made a custard and poured it over the brownies and cherries in the baking dish and baked it. So here is a more detailed recipe, in case you want to make this. Now I have a yummy dessert to share with friends this weekend.

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

5-6 c. crumbled brownies – stale brownies would be great in this recipe

1 (15 oz.) can plain, canned cherries, drained- or 2 cups pitted cherries

4 eggs

1 c. half and half- you could use milk

1 T. vanilla

1 t. cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking dish or casserole dish. Place the crumbled brownies in the prepared pan. Pour the cherries over the brownies- trying to spread them out as evenly as possible. Combine remaining ingredients in a medium bowl and beat until well mixed. Pour over the brownie mix and bake for about 40 minutes, or until bread pudding is set in the middle. Serve as is, or with some whipped cream or ice cream.