Nutella Bread Pudding...

Nutella here, Nutella there, Nutella every ______ where. Feel free to fill in the gap with whatever comes to mind. Truth is, this Italian chocolate spread seems to be taking over the food blogosphere. Every where I turn I seem to see a recipe which has used it in some form. It's amazing to watch food trends come and go especially with something as simple and established as Nutella. I remember growing up alongside it and seeing it in tiny single serving packs with a foil top rather than the jar it's sold in now. It was definitely a treat item in the pantry rather than a staple snack item.
I always wonder about who is responsible for food trends like salt being used in chocolate and caramel, and taking the kitchen out from under a fine working roof and putting it into a tiny food truck to name but a few. The concepts seem to work and good luck to those who use them.  I will continue to rack my brain everyday in the hope of coming up with something unique. In the meantime I challenged my inner Nutellaness and this recipe was the result.

I was happy how the bread pudding turned out especially as the last two days was spent fruitlessly trying to figure out a way to make baked donuts filled with Nutella. I'm sorry I know baked is healthier than fried but a donut has to be dipped in bubbling hot oil to give it that unique taste and texture. No disrespect to the baked donut blog posts out there, it's just my opinion.

Here's the recipe adapted from Joy of Baking:

10 cups of cubed bread such as challah, Hawaiian or cinnamon bread. You could use regular but these give a little more flavor and richness.

Custard-
4 Eggs
1 Cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 Tbsp melted butter
4 Cups of half and half 

1 Cup of chopped roasted hazelnuts, don't forget to roast them in a dry pan for about 5-7 minutes as the taste and texture completely changes and adds to the recipe.
1 Jar of Nutella

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and either butter a 13x9 pan or I used individual ramekins for a more personal serving, they cooked a little quicker so be mindful of that. Make sure whatever dish you use will fit into a larger roasting pan as this will be the water bath. Also put a kettle or pot of water on to boil.
Beat the eggs and sugar until thick and bright yellow and add the vanilla and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and the half and half. See below for assembly.

Ladle the liquid mix carefully over the bread and let sit for 5-10 minutes until the bread soaks up the mix. Top off with more liquid if necessary.
Put the dish or dishes into the roasting pan and carefully add the boiled water into the roasting pan until about halfway up the sides of the puddings.
Bake for about an hour or until quite firm in the middle when pressed with your finger. Let cool and serve warm or cold.

 I used Hawaiian sweet bread. Slice it into small pieces and spread liberally with the Nutella. Sprinkle some of the chopped nuts over. Spread more of the bread with the Nutella and lay chocolate side down on top of the nuts almost like a sandwich. Ladle the custard mix on top of the bread and once settled top with the rest of the nuts. I also halved the whole recipe to fill these four ramekins and I still had some leftover. It will be okay in the fridge and can still be used up to a week later.