White Chocolate Bread Pudding and Rum Sauce

Preheat oven to 275 degrees (F).

Chop up about 3/4 of a loaf of French bread into small cubes. Toast the bread cubes in the oven for about 12 minutes, until they start to get a little bit brown. This will make them absorb extra moisture later. Once toasted, place all bread cubes into an 8 x 8 greased baking pan.

Turn oven up to 350 degrees (F).

In a saucepan, mix together whipping cream, 2 cups of milk, and 1/2 cup of sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and add in 9/10 the bag of white chocolate chips. Whisk together until chocolate is melted.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and the egg yolks. Once whisked, slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the eggs. Pour half of the egg/chocolate mixture over the bread cubes and allow to sit for about ten minutes.

Once the bread has absorbed a decent amount of the mixture, pour in the remaining half of the egg mixture. Cover with foil, and bake for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes, remove the foil and bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes.

While waiting for your dish to finish baking, prepare your rum sauce.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar and the cornstarch. Once combined, pour in remaining milk and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Turn heat down to simmer and allow the mixture to thicken. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in rum and vanilla. Add a little more rum if you would like, or vanilla. It is all done to taste. Finally, stir in the remaining chocolate chips.

When the bread pudding comes out of the oven, ladle the sauce over top of the pudding. Enjoy!!!