Waffle-Berry Chocolate Chip Pudding

How do you transform an unwanted breakfast food into a chocolate raspberry heaven?

I woke up today with some stale waffles staring at me as I walked into the kitchen. My kids made waffles yesterday and didn’t eat them all and in the chaos that is our lives the waffles never got put away. Not that they would get eaten if they had. Yes, I know you can freeze them and reheat, but my picky kids only like waffles when they are hot off the waffle iron. So I never quite know what to do with those leftover waffles. Inevitably they get tossed into the compost pile when they turn old.6

Today these poor,sad waffles were just begging me to DO something with them.

Hmmm … Waffles. Raspberries. Mulberries. Chocolate. Sugared walnuts. And a bit of raspberry liqueur … yes, this is going to be good.

Waffle-Berry Chocolate Chip Pudding

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 – 3 waffles (actually you could use bread instead … anything bread-like will do), torn or cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 1/2 c. milk or fat free half and half — today I used fat free half and half because I had some in my fridge that needed to get used. I think you could also use soy milk or almond milk or whatever kind fits your diet.
• 1 T. butter, melted (also optional–I really think you could leave this out altogether)
• 2 t. vanilla
• 4 eggs (can substitute eggbeaters or use 2 egg whites to sub for a whole egg)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. raspberry liqueur (optional–you can substitute juice if you like)
• 3 – 4 cups of berries, fresh or frozen. I used a mix of frozen raspberries and mulberries (about half of each)
• About 1/2 c. good quality chocolate chips
• 1 -2 T. raw (turbinado) sugar
• Plain or sugar-roasted walnuts or pecans (I used the rest of the sweet spicy nuts I had made for the pear salad).

Directions:

1. Toast the waffle chunks by placing them on a baking sheet spritzed with cooking spray and baking at 350 for about 5 minutes or until they are just lightly browned.
2. Place the waffle chunks into a casserole coated with cooking spray.
3. Mix the melted butter, milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl and pour over the waffles. Let the waffles sit and soak in the milk mixture for about 15 minutes, stirring a few times to make sure all the waffles get a chance to bask in the milk.
4. Meanwhile in a separate bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the sugar and liqueur. Add in the berries and stir to coat.
5. Pour the sugared berry mixture into the casserole with the waffles and stir to mix.
6. Sprinkle with raw sugar and nuts.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for abotu 55 – 60 minutes or until the pudding is set.

Serve for dessert warm topped with ice cream, whipped topping, or some vanilla yogurt.

It also makes a fantastic breakfast, with coffee or a hot, spiced chai latte–or maybe some hot chocolate?

This is part of my series of 31 Days of Warmer Connections. Every day in October, I am blogging about connections through food.

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