Ugh. This weekend.

After DAYS of sunshine and 70s, we woke up Saturday morning to drizzly rain and plummeting temperatures that landed in the 40s today. Most of our weekend plans dried up once the rain and wind picked up, so we spent the past two days kinda stuck at home.

Ugh.

By the time this afternoon rolled around, we all needed a sweet treat to salvage the bummer weekend. Chris was talking about chocolate covered cherries early this morning, so I used his comments as inspiration for a special dessert. The giant loaf of nearly stale French bread on the counter also helped. Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding was born!

We all loved this dessert. Especially wee Ben. And even Evie liked the Bourbon Butter Sauce I served on the side!

Chocolate Cherry Bread Pudding

5 eggs

1 2/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter, cubed

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons vanilla extract (I use homemade vanilla extract)

3-4 cups of day old French bread, cubed

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups fresh cherries, pitted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 glass dish.

Put the cubed bread into a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add milk, sugar, vanilla and cubed butter and stir to combine. Add cherries and chocolate chips. Stir. Pour over milk.

Pour bread mixture into the greased 13×9 pan. Using your hands, press the bread cubes down so they start to soak up the egg mixture. Cover with foil.

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Serve with Bourbon Butter Sauce.

Bourbon Butter Sauce

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract (try homemade vanilla extract)

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup bourbon

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add sugar and vanilla and stir well. Slowly pour in beaten egg while whisking. Continue stirring until sugar dissolves. Pour in bourbon and cook for a minute or two. Remove from heat and drizzle over bread pudding (or pancakes…or vanilla ice cream…or just eat it by the spoonful…)