What’s For Dessert? Something Chocolate, I Hope
Time To Think About Treasured Family Holiday Desserts
When our family gathered for holidays or special occasions, Grandma Helen’s Chocolate Bread pudding was the requested dessert and I, as the oldest sibling, was in charge of providing it. Writing about pudding seems like an odd story to find on Medium, but here we are.
It all started with Plum Street Chili’s recipe for kielbasa bites (link below), our comments back and forth chatting about family recipes, and the history behind them, during which I mentioned my family’s chocolate bread pudding recipe. Naturally, after mentioning it I had to produce it and of course, it was not where I thought I had put it. Luckily for me, I had the foresight to send the treasured recipe to my younger relatives, and they were able to retrieve it.
I have never given any thought to the history of bread puddings, let alone chocolate bread pudding, until now. Where did Grandma Helen or her mother find the original recipe? Internet research told me the origin of bread pudding is ancient, as far back as the 11 century ensuring nothing, not even stale bread was wasted. The addition of chocolate did not appear in print until 1730, but that does not mean it was not used.
The reliable Fannie Merritt Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School Cook-Book, (my first…
