I know that I am not the first person in history to use one of these covers, but they are usually seen outside at picnics to keep bugs off of food. When I came across this at the newly-opened Sur la Table near me, a lightbulb went off. I can use this to keep Bad Boy Baxter from checking out food I am cooling on the counter.

Genius!!!

In this case, the cover is protecting bread cubes for a chocolate bread pudding.  I don't know where the recipe came from, but I am sharing it with you.  It is wonderfully rich and chocolatey and gooey and...

Well, just give it a try!

Chocolate Bread Pudding-

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon unsalted butter

4 large eggs

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

1/4cup Grand Marnier or other orange flavored liqueur

2 cups half-and-half

8 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed and cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Spiced Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 6-cup (9 1/4 x 5 ¼ x 2 3/4-inch) loaf pan with the butter.

2. Whisk the eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, melted chocolate, and

Grand Marnier together in a large mixing bowl until very smooth. Add the

half-and-half and mix well. Add the bread and let the mixture sit for 30

minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Pour half of the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top with the

unmelted chocolate chips. Pour the remaining bread mixture over the

chocolate chips. Bake until the pudding is set in the center, about 55

minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes.

4. To serve, cut the pudding into 1-inch thick slices. Top with the spiced

cream.

Makes 8 to 10 servings 

Ingredients for Spiced Cream

1 quart heavy cream 

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

1. Beat the cream with an electric mixer on high speed in a large mixing bowl for about 2 minutes. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and beat again until the mixture forms stiff peaks, another 1 to 2 minutes.

Makes 4 cups

This is it, HOT out of the oven.  It's missing the whipped cream, but I will make that just before I leave for book club, which is where we will eat the bread pudding. We read
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum.  It's an interesting read from an historical perspective; up until the early 1900s there really was no forensic science, but the popularity of arsenic as a murder weapon, and then the development of other toxins led to the study of new methods of hard-to-detect murder. So, it's interesting as history, but the autopsies and procedures described as pathologists and toxicologists tried to figure out what killed someone does not make for good bedtime reading. Consider yourself warned.

Off to eat some chocolate.