Challah Chocolate Bread Pudding with Chocolate Ganache

Do you know what’s really interesting to me? Baby names. Trying to find the perfect name that your baby will live with for his or her entire life can kind of be an overwhelming and enlightening task. Bring another person into the mix (aka your significant other) and the name selecting task can get all sorts of interesting.

My husband and I love to take our dogs for a walk because not only does it get them out of the house, but it also gives us a chance to connect, talk, update, and share. Early in this pregnancy, my husband and I would keep ourselves entertained while walking the dogs by talking about baby names. He would bring up a name during the walk and we would go back and forth. Then, I would bring up a name and we would talk about all of the pros and cons.

During one of the first baby name dogs walks, my husband brought to the table a boy’s name. After hearing the name come out of his mouth, I was immediately hooked. It was the very first name that we even discussed for a boy. We both knew that if we are going to have a boy, the boy’s name would be …  gotcha! Yeah, we’re keeping this a secret until December.

The most difficult part of selecting a baby name was coming up with a girl’s name. As we kept brainstorming names, my husband began starting his propositions as, “Now, keep an open mind.” I knew right then and there that I would dislike the name. This game continued on and on for quite a number of weeks. After thinking that we liked a name, we would sit, give it a ton of thought and consideration, and say the name over and over again after pairing it with the middle and last name.

Then came the nicknames. “What would we call the girl as a nickname?” Since my husband’s name is Christopher and my name is Jennifer, we are all about the shortened version of a name. Some names just didn’t set themselves up for success in this category.

Over time, I began to notice that my husband favored the classic names while I favored more of the short, sweet, and slightly different names. When we finally decided on a name a few weeks ago, we were completely overjoyed and incredibly happy. I couldn’t believe that we discovered a name that we both truly loved.

Then, it happened. I found out something that ruined the name for both of us. After many conversations and much hemming and hawing, we decided that we just couldn’t move forward with that name. We were both incredibly bummed and frustrated by the whole ordeal. We loved that name and we couldn’t imagine another name that would replace the love that we had for that name.

So, instead of remaining grumpy about the whole situation, I took out my computer last night and sat down with my husband to research names. After looking through countless lists, I finally stumbled upon a name that I have always loved. The name popped into my head about a week ago but I was too nervous to tell my husband because I was afraid that he was not going to like it. Not one bit.

So, I gathered up every ounce of courage I had and said the name. He paused, thought about it, and, with a big smile on his face, said, “I like it. That’s it.” I was overjoyed, excited, happy, elated and … shocked. Did he really agree to a name that was more of my style? But then again, it was kind of his style too. Did we really just find a name that we would name our potential daughter? Did we really just find a name on which we both agreed? Did we really just find a name that was a happy mix of our two tastes and styles?

For the rest of the night, I couldn’t stop saying the name over and over again and he couldn’t stop telling me how much he loved the name. I couldn’t be happier with our two selections. Stay tuned for the big reveal … in December!

Challah Chocolate Bread Pudding with Chocolate Ganache


Ingredients:

• 4 cups milk
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 loaf of Challah bread, cut into 1-inch slices
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• Chocolate Ganache (recipe as follows) (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees. Prepare a 9×13 baking dish by either buttering the dish or spraying the dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Combine the milk and butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
3. Line the baking dish with 1/2 of the Challah slices.
4. Sprinkle the top of the slices with half of the chocolate chips.
5. Put the remaining Challah slices over the chocolate chips.
6. Pout the milk mixture over the bread slices evenly so that all of the slices are covered in the mixture.
7. Top the Challah slices with the remaining chocolate chips.
8. Allow the baking dish to stand for 15 minutes. During this time, be sure to press down the Challah slices every once in a while in order to soak all of the slices in the milk mixture.
9. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes or until the mixture is set and the Challah slices are lightly browned.
10. Remove from the oven and serve with Chocolate Ganache. How To Make Ganache: Mix together 1 cup of heavy cream with 1 cup of milk chocolate chips. Melt the mixture in a double boiler. Stir together the mixture until it is a smooth chocolate sauce.

How did you pick your kids’ names?

*Recipe slightly adapted from Food Network