I went back and forth about sharing this bread pudding recipe so close to spring. In fact, my beloved CSA wrote to remind me about remaining available shares and that spring was just days away. However, I didn’t see the email right away because the snowstorm on Tuesday knocked out our power and internet. I still consider us lucky — someone around the corner had a tree fall on their car.

Given that it snows through April around these parts, I’m offering a decadent, luxurious bread pudding recipe that we always turn to when we have a barely eaten challah on Sunday mornings. It’s from a cookbook written by two women — sisters, actually — Marilyn and her late sister Sheila Brass, who lived in Cambridge and wrote this cookbook a few years ago.

They both worked at WGBH when my husband was there, and he was lucky enough to enjoy their goodies as they tweaked the recipes they’d written and other ones they’d discovered in family journals and were testing. The station also produced a really lovely cooking show with the sisters where the viewer journeyed with them to their local butcher, cheese monger, and into their kitchen and dining room.

This recipe serves a crowd, or a COVID-conscious family of four over several days of many desserts and breakfasts. I changed up the recipe years ago, replacing the raisins soaked in brandy with chopped pieces of a chocolate bar — Chocolove is a personal favorite of mine — to make it more kid-friendly. I found the step of brushing melted butter across the challah or brioche pieces too hickey-picky so I eliminated that step.

You’ll need to make a water bath for this recipe — I use a ceramic pan for the pudding and a massive roasting pan that I’ve never actually used for turkey for the pan to be inserted into.

Classic Bread PuddingAdapted from “Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters,” by Maryilynn Brass & Sheila Brass

The bread layers

14 to 16 half-inch slices of brioche or leftover challah

For custard

2 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

One half teaspoon cinnamon

One half teaspoon nutmeg

Pinch of kosher salt

4 eggs beaten

2 cups chocolate chips or one chocolate bar, your choice, chopped

For Topping

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Set the oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 9-inch by 13-inch ovenproof baking dish with vegetable spray. Set aside a larger metal baking pan and rack for the water bath.

To make the custard: Combine milk, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl, Add eggs to custard mixture and combine.

Pour a small amount of custard in bottom of baking dish. Tilt and swirl dish until bottom is covered.

Layer 6 slices of brioche/challah on top of custard.

Fill in spaces with extra bread. Pour half of remaining custard over bread. Sprinkle half of chocolate on top of custard. Add remaining bread to dish. Pour rest of custard over brioche and sprinkle with remaining chocolate.

To add the topping: Use a knife to cut 8 slits through layered pudding. Cover top of pudding with plastic wrap and press down firmly with your palm until custard rises to the top. (Chocolate will sink into pudding.) Let stand 10 minutes, pushing down gently on top of pudding two more times. Remove plastic wrap and cover entire top of pudding with brown sugar. Pour melted butter over brown sugar.

Place baking dish on rack in large metal pan. Pour hot water from a glass measuring cup into outer pan until water level rises halfway up the sides of the bread pudding dish. Place carefully in oven. Bake approximately 1 hour 15 minutes, or until topping puffs up and begins to bubble and a tester inserted into middle comes out clean. Do not let the water evaporate from the water bath. Check pudding periodically during baking to be sure topping is not burning; cover loosely with foil if topping seems to be drying out.

Remove baking dish carefully from oven and water bath. Allow to cool on rack 30 minutes to 1 hour. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with unsweetened whipped cream. Store covered with a paper towel and plastic wrap in the refrigerator.

Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.

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