Chocolate Bread Pudding!

Sorry I have not put up a recipe in a while.  I have been busy with work and Ramadan.  So today, I am sharing a chocolate bread pudding recipe.  It is simply amazing.  I had been looking for a good  bread pudding recipe for a while and was watching Paula Dean's show one day and she happened to make this bread pudding.  It was very easy so I looked up the recipe and got the ingredients.  The original recipe of this bread pudding comes with a toffee sauce recipe also, but I find it unnecessary because the bread pudding is already so sweet on its own.   I am not that big of a chocolate fan, so I like to add a little less chocolate than the recipe states, but this dessert is not too chocolaty.  Even my mom, who dislikes chocolate, loves this dessert.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf Hawaiian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
• 1/2 stick butter, melted
• 4 large eggs
• 8 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, finely chopped or semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 13 by 9-inch baking dish.

2.  Add the bread cubes to a large bowl.
3.  In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups of the cream, the milk, 1 cup sugar, butter, and eggs. Add the cream mixture to the bread cubes, stirring to combine. Let stand for 15 minutes.
4.  Stir in the chocolate and pecans. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking dish. 
5.  Drizzle with remaining 1/2 cup cream and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until the center is set, about 1 hour.
6.  Enjoy!  This will be a big hit!