This Orange Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding has an orange custard base and chocolate chips covered in an orange toffee sauce.
I don’t think best friends work for most adults.
I don’t really think they work all that well for kids either but right now I am focusing on the adults.
A friend of mine basically started a discussion on how we don’t really have best friends.
Most of us had concluded that we had someone we called our best friend but they were back from college or even high school days and in reality knew very little about what was actually going on in our day to day lives.
And we all concluded that no one we know lived like a Friends episode.
I have this too.
The female that most people assume is my best friend still lives in Phoenix.
I probably speak to her physically on the phone maybe once a year and we text maybe a few times a month.
How is it that this person is expected to be my best friend?
It’s a good question and the one that we have been mulling over.
I think one thing that comes into play is that people end up marrying their best friend kind of thing.
When you used to run and tell your best female friend all your stuff you find yourself telling your spouse instead…unless of course you are complaining about your spouse. 😛
But in some ways that spot gets filled.
And while when you were single your girlfriends were there for you, it all really changes when you are in a relationship.
And this is why for adults the concept doesn’t work all that well.
It doesn’t work well for kids just for the fact that it just causes super drama.
Girls get upset about being left out.
Or thinking they were someone’s best friend only to find out that they weren’t when they see them wearing the other half of the BFF forever necklace.
What about you?
Do you have a best friend?
Or do you have a collection of close friends?
And if you do have a best friend are they the same sex as you?
If you read the blog you know that most of my friends are guys.
Though I do have female friends as well, I just tend to hang with the guys much more.
If you don’t have any friends and want to make some, maybe you should make some bread pudding.
Nothing says be my friend like carby-sugary-comforting bread pudding. 😀
I used Hawaiian rolls because they are sweeter and just all around awesome but you can use regular dinner rolls.
Since the orange and chocolate chip loaf went over so well a while back I thought I would make it into bread pudding form.
Glad I did.
Share it with a friend today.
By the way, it’s a great day to buy my cookbook !
Want More Bread Pudding Recipes?
Sticky Toffee Pudding Bread Pudding
Bailey’s Irish Nut Coffee Bread Pudding
Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Bread Pudding
Orange Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding
Ingredients
- For the Pudding:
- 1 (12 pack) package King’s Hawaiian Rolls (or dinner rolls), on the stale side, torn into pieces
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup orange juice concentrate
- Pinch of salt
- 2 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
- For the Orange Toffee Sauce:
- 2 TBSP orange juice concentrate
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup whipping cream
Instructions
- For the Pudding:
- Grease a 8-x-8-inch pan.
- Place bread pieces into pan to cover bottom.
- Mix the egg s, egg yolk, sugar, orange juice concentrate and salt in a large bowl. Then stir in the heavy cream and milk. Whisk until fully incorporated.
- Pour the custard over the bread layer. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard. Sprinkle ½ the chocolate chips.
- Make another layer of bread. Pour custard over second bread layer. Repeat as many times as you have ingredients and room. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips.
- You will most likely have extra custard depending on how stale your bread is. Don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.
- Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath.
- Bake the bread pudding for 45-55 minutes until golden on top, and custard isn’t running in the middle.
- Cool 10 minutes and serve warm with orange toffee sauce.
- For the Orange Toffee Sauce:
- Stir brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add cream and orange juice concentrate and bring to a simmer.
- Simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Serve over bread pudding warm.
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
I never thought of it that way, but I have to agree with you now that I’ve read that. I have a couple best friends (I know that kind of skews the meaning of best), but they don’t live even in the same state as me. So where I live, I have a few close friends but even them I don’t talk to every day, unless it’s people I work with.
Becca says
I don’t think I have a best friend, but a collection of people that I hang out with and eat lunch with and talk to during school. I have one person who I’m closer too, but I don’t know. I’ve also noticed with my parents that they don’t have best friends either…at least not my dad anyways.
Your bread pudding looks awesome. Orange and chocolate is a great flavor combo 🙂
Adam says
I think best friends are the ones who would quite literally drop everything they’re doing to help you through something. Maybe that’s your spouse, maybe it’s not, can’t say. I have two, both guys, one friends since age 3, one since high school. We never had drama, they’re the people I talk to when drama happens. Sure we don’t see each other as much as we used to, but I know that if I needed them for something they would be there no questions. Maybe it’s as simple as your best friend(s) being your family by choice.
And the Bread Pudding looks fantastic! 🙂
Cookbook Queen says
I will say that keeping best friends is definitely harder as you become an adult and ESPECIALLY after you get married. However..I actually do have a handful of friends I talk to almost daily. And by talk, I mean text. We don’t see each other often, but we check in regularly, which is nice. I think seeing a friend daily can get to be too much.
And…one of the girls I talk to every day and consider a BEST friend is another blogger who lives halfway across the country. Honestly, the way everyone texts back and forth, it’s no different than friends I have up the street!!
Orange chocolate chip bread looks perfect. Like always, you make the best stuff 🙂
Kristen says
I have a lot of really good friends, but you are right… now real best friend. I always think “who would you call if your mom died today” and aside from my husband (and obviously my siblings, I don’t know what friend I would call to mourn with me. Kind of sad, huh? Maybe I should make more bread pudding!
Weekly Bite says
I remember watching Friends and day dreaming about wanting best friends like that, ones that I would see everyday. Reality is the complete opposite. I have several great friends, but maybe one or two very good friends that live in different states. We talk about once per month.
Good thing bread pudding is my favorite dessert!! It looks amazing!
Rosa says
I’ve never had a best friend, unfortunately. I only have close friends and not that many either…
That pudding looks heavenly!
Cheers,
Rosa
Allison says
My definition of ‘best friend’ has evolved as I’ve gotten older. You are absolutely right that the definition is not the same as when we were younger. My husband is my best friend, but have a circle of very close friends that I make sure to make contact with (mostly text) at least every week, if not every other week. I think technology has contributed greatly to how we keep in contact with our friends. There is not the need to have to talk on the phone anymore to stay in contact; but it is always a nice surprise when I receive a call from one of my friends.
Erika says
I have two really close girl friends – more than I ever had in high school actually 🙂 I don’t see them a lot, but they are the ones I want to call when something bad or good happens.
But I always had guy friends growing up – no drama!!!!
Bread pudding looks delicious!
SaraJ says
My sister is my best friend, lucky me, she is also my neighbor. She is 8 years younger than me so growing up we didn’t have that type of relationship but over the years she has become the one I go to for everything.
I also have 3 really close girlfriends who live within 15 miles of me. One I hardly ever see but we talk at least once a day. Weird.
Cheryl says
I agree, friends are very much harder to make and call close as we get older. I do still have my best friend, since we were 7 and we are now 55. We do not live in the same area we grew up but it ended up we live w/in a 25 min. drive from each other. We would drop everything to help each other and she is doing that right now by staying with me through a difficult and scary time. I think I am very lucky.
kita says
I have a group of super close friends, most male. I think there is only one ot two females Im close with in real life. I agree. Our friends often end up being our other half, but if I wasn’t able tell Jim everything. Id be totally bummdd.
kita says
Bummed rather…. >.>
kathleen says
I don’t think of it that way — I think of my closest friends as my family… the family I get to choose.
cw says
I am 55 and still have a best friend. Over the years we have lived in seperate states but for the last 20 or so we have lived within 45 minutes of each other. She has been married for over 20 years with one child, I am divorced for nearly as many years with 3 children. We talk on the phone every day, sometimes I call her just to tell her something mundane, like “the Wizard of Oz is on tonight”, sometimes it is more important. We see each other often, go shopping, garage saleing or out to lunch. When possible, we spend holidays together. Sometimes we sleep over at each others houses. Really, we do. She is my dearest friend and confidant. Together we have weathered marriages and the end of marriages, child birth, parenting issues, financial isses and deaths of loved ones. I cannot imagine my life without her and don’t want to. After reading the other comments, I think I am so blessed to truly have a best friend for a lifetime. (Did I mention that we met when we were 7?)
Peabody says
CW- that is great that you have a best friend like that!
Jennifer says
I agree, media in general tries to portray this image of best friend(s), but what I see in real life mainly is the spouse being the true best friend (hopefully), and then close friends.
If I had to choose someone other than my spouse it would be my sister, she lives close by and we talk almost everyday.
KCatGU says
I am a female adult with a female best friend. There are however somethings that contribute to our closeness that are sort of unusual, we live a block apart. Not hard to see and speak with someone every day when you are in such close proximity to each other. Evening dog walk? Then both of our husband work the same unusual night schedule. Have 4 nights a week where we are both on our own lends itself to lots of hanging out.
I can’t imagine life without her, I know she feels the same, heck I can’t even imagine moving at this point.
jessie says
First off – your recipes are ridiculous. I picked a lousy time to give up sugar. Secondly – I actually do have a best friend. There are a few people I consider really close friends, that are in my day to day-ish life, but my best friend is my bff from high school. We live 3000 miles away, but she is still the one person I really do tell everything to. In general, however, I have actually been reassessing my definition of “friendships,” realizing that many people in my life merely qualify as acquaintances, and I should stop giving them the distinguished label of friend. Once I did that, it is much easier to see there clearly is a bestie 🙂