Chocolate Bread Pudding

okay, this is my first try at my own food porn. lol. the pictures are terrible,especially where the ice cream scoop is about to melt over the bowl.haha.

Chocolate Bread Pudding( adapted from Martha Stewart's Chocolate Bread Pudding)The ingredients with the starred notations are my substitutions.

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk ( i used 2%)
1 1/2 tsp of madagascar burbon vanilla extract*
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon*
5 mini baguette (not sourdough) loaves*
8 ounces BAKER'S semi-sweet chocolate plus 2 ounces BAKER'S unsweetened*
8 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar*

Heat the oven to 325°F. Place the cream, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for 30 minutes to infuse flavors.

Cut the baguettes to into 1/4-inch thick slices. Reserve the end pieces. Then, cut the slices into quarters. Fill a 9-by-12 glass baking dish with the quartered pieces.

Return the milk mixture to a boil, remove from heat. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Combine egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Pour chocolate mixture very slowly into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until fully combined.

Slowly pour half the chocolate custard over bread, making sure all the bread is soaked. Arrange the reserved bread on top in a decorative pattern, and press firmly so bottom layer absorbs the chocolate mixture. Spoon remaining custard over bread until it is completely covered and cracks are all filled in. Place plastic wrap over the dish: press down to soak bread throughly. Remove plastic and wipe edges of dish with a damp towel. Allow dish to sit for 30 minutes.

Bake for 45 minutes. Cool slightly for 15 minutes. Serve with ice cream (I used Breyer's Chocolate-Vanilla-Strawberry) or creme fraiche.

Notes:

The original recipe noted 1 whole vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped, 3 cinnamon sticks (optional), 1 loaf brioche( about 1 pound, or substitute white bread), 12 ounces roughly chopped valrhona or other bittersweet chocolate, 3/4 cup of sugar. The last step for baking the bread pudding was to set the glass dish into a bain de marie, baking until set for about 35 minutes. I tested this pudding for the first time without the bain de marie and found out it came out a drier product that was still yummy. LOL. The next time I make this using the hot water bath.