I've got to gloat a little here, I'm pretty proud of this creation.
I know this isn't the first time this has been done, but for me, this turned out perfect the first time I did it. A little snippet about me: I spend 75% of my reading time pouring over the latest cooking mags and cook books. I love them. They're my eye candy. But I rarely ever use them in the kitchen... Kinda takes the fun out of it for me. With cooking, it's pretty simple to whip up a meal off the top of your head, but when it comes to baking, there's a much lower yield in quality when your experimenting. So, when it comes out perfect, you can't help but feel like high-fiving your self... after eating it, of course.
So, I invite you, for high-fives and kick-ass rum sauce!
This karmic infusion of aromatic earthy chai tea and pungent warming spiced rum is the perfect cloak for a naked scoop of vanilla ice cream, or a decorative drizzle over your favorite spice cake.
Chai Spiced Rum Sauce
Makes enough for lots of smiles
1c Sugar
1c Brown sugar
1/2c Spiced rum
2T Water
1/4c Loose chai tea blend
1c Heavy cream
1/4 sour cream
a pinch or two of salt
In a heavy bottom sauce pan, bring rum, water and chai tea blend to boil, turn off and let steep for 10 min. or so. Strain mix, saving all liquid and discarding tea. Return liquid to pan, add sugars and simmer on low until dissolved and bubbly, about 5-7 min. Add cream to bubbly sugar, turn up heat a bit, and allow to boil about 10 min. You'll need to stir this pretty consistently, being careful to not let sauce boil over sides, burnt sugar=sadness.
After about 10 min. remove from heat, add sour cream and salt to your liking. This will thicken as it cools, served best at room temp or slightly warm.
Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dessert. Show all posts
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Freelance Friday: Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
Need I say more? Really, I mean, who doesn't like bread pudding? It's gooey, crunchy, sweet, custardy, creamy, soft with a hint of tart. It's all things lovely baked into bready goodness, topped with cold cream and dreamy caramel love. If I sounds like I'm gushing, it's cause I am. It's a dessert that I forget about 9 months out of the year and then fall hits me and then I find every reason I can to incorporate butter and cream and carbohydrates into my daily diet. And then I remember the frozen baguettes I had tucked away in my freezer awaiting their fate as bread crumbs or croutons. But this time their demise was much more splendid. It dawned on me today that it is indeed bread pudding season. And what better a way to enjoy it than to cram it together with this seasons other favored dessert, pumpkin pie.
When I was little my mom used send me on bread pudding missions. She'd give me a few dollars to run down to Jean's Deli and get her some of their bread pudding. It was pretty traditional, hint of cinnamon lots of raisins, pipping hot with cold cream poured over top. I remember having to hurry home so the cream would still be cold and the pudding still warm when she ate it. I never understood why, at the time. What's all the hype over this mushy bread soaked with milk? I'd fill my pockets with penny candy (which soon changed to two penny and then nickle candy) and then run home, not even thinking to stop and sneak bites of the sweet treasure encased in that styrofoam takeout box.
Latter on in life Jean's Deli expanded and changed locations and mom took me there for lunch. We of coarse had the pudding and a flood of regret hit me. All those times I devotedly ran back to my mother with her untouched goods, I could have been hiding in the bushes, disassembling the pudding, figuring out ways to eat as much of it as possible without her noticing half the insides where missing. It was for the best, I'm sure. But still to this day I can't make bread pudding without thinking of mom, and, of coarse, bringing her at least two pieces.
The recipe I've adapted for bread pudding leaves you with a less-sweet bread, to compliment the cold cream and sweet caramely topping. The key is to use high quality dense bread with a hearty crust, such as a levain. If your bread is fresh, let it get stale for a day before starting your pudding, this lessens the soggy factor and helps the bread cubes hold their structure. I like to add nuts for some added texture, and instead of raisins I went with dried blueberries. This recipe brings together all the fall flavors of pumpkin pie with all the glory that is bread pudding...
Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
Serves at least 8
1 Hearty baguette (cut into 1" cubes)
2C Half and Half
5 Fresh eggs
1 can Pumpkin puree
1C Brown sugar
1/2C Maple syrup
2t Pumpkin pie spice
1/2t cinnamon
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
1/2t salt
4T melted butter
1C chopped pecans (lightly toasted)
1C dried blueberries
One batch Chai Spiced Rum Sauce
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients, excluding bread, butter, pecans and blueberries, in a large bowl, wisk well to incorporate (a blender will make short work of this, but do not over blend, you don't want mixture to get foamy). In same bowl, add remaining ingredients, mix well. Allow to soak for 10-15 min, less depending on how stale or tough your bread is. Spray or lightly butter a 9x13 in. baking dish. When bread is finished soaking pour melted butter over mixture and incorporate just to coat. Fill baking dish with bread mixture, pat down and smooth it out just a bit. Bake for 45-55 min. It should appear slightly puffed and browned and a tooth pic should come out clean.
Let cool for at least 15 min. before serving. Serve in a bowl with cool cream or half and half and a hefty drizzle of Chai Spiced Rum Sauce...
When I was little my mom used send me on bread pudding missions. She'd give me a few dollars to run down to Jean's Deli and get her some of their bread pudding. It was pretty traditional, hint of cinnamon lots of raisins, pipping hot with cold cream poured over top. I remember having to hurry home so the cream would still be cold and the pudding still warm when she ate it. I never understood why, at the time. What's all the hype over this mushy bread soaked with milk? I'd fill my pockets with penny candy (which soon changed to two penny and then nickle candy) and then run home, not even thinking to stop and sneak bites of the sweet treasure encased in that styrofoam takeout box.
Latter on in life Jean's Deli expanded and changed locations and mom took me there for lunch. We of coarse had the pudding and a flood of regret hit me. All those times I devotedly ran back to my mother with her untouched goods, I could have been hiding in the bushes, disassembling the pudding, figuring out ways to eat as much of it as possible without her noticing half the insides where missing. It was for the best, I'm sure. But still to this day I can't make bread pudding without thinking of mom, and, of coarse, bringing her at least two pieces.
The recipe I've adapted for bread pudding leaves you with a less-sweet bread, to compliment the cold cream and sweet caramely topping. The key is to use high quality dense bread with a hearty crust, such as a levain. If your bread is fresh, let it get stale for a day before starting your pudding, this lessens the soggy factor and helps the bread cubes hold their structure. I like to add nuts for some added texture, and instead of raisins I went with dried blueberries. This recipe brings together all the fall flavors of pumpkin pie with all the glory that is bread pudding...
Pumpkin Pecan Bread Pudding
Serves at least 8
1 Hearty baguette (cut into 1" cubes)
2C Half and Half
5 Fresh eggs
1 can Pumpkin puree
1C Brown sugar
1/2C Maple syrup
2t Pumpkin pie spice
1/2t cinnamon
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
1/2t salt
4T melted butter
1C chopped pecans (lightly toasted)
1C dried blueberries
One batch Chai Spiced Rum Sauce
Preheat oven to 350. Combine all ingredients, excluding bread, butter, pecans and blueberries, in a large bowl, wisk well to incorporate (a blender will make short work of this, but do not over blend, you don't want mixture to get foamy). In same bowl, add remaining ingredients, mix well. Allow to soak for 10-15 min, less depending on how stale or tough your bread is. Spray or lightly butter a 9x13 in. baking dish. When bread is finished soaking pour melted butter over mixture and incorporate just to coat. Fill baking dish with bread mixture, pat down and smooth it out just a bit. Bake for 45-55 min. It should appear slightly puffed and browned and a tooth pic should come out clean.
Let cool for at least 15 min. before serving. Serve in a bowl with cool cream or half and half and a hefty drizzle of Chai Spiced Rum Sauce...
Monday, October 13, 2008
My cinnamon fetish
Have I mentioned this? Have you heard? Yes, it's true. I have, as of late, a complete infatuation with all things cinnamon. I recently stayed up until 12:30 in the a.m just to make cinnamon rolls (thank you Orangette for the inspiration).
Cinnamon, I want you on and in everything, especially if there's butter or maple syrup for you to cozy up next to. A conjugal visit, of sorts, a blissful conjoining of spicy, creamy, sappy sweet love. I won't watch, I swear. But I promise I will lick the plate clean of you when your done. I just can't help myself, I'm crazed. Most women go bonkers over chocolate. Not me. Nope. I only have eyes for you, cinnamon.
Luckily, for me, it's pretty easy to get a four year old on board with having breakfast for dinner. Delighted in my new affair, I decided to conjure up a batch of baked french toast, laden with cinnamon, of course.
Along with cinnamon, french toast is something I've always had a crush on. It's my go to breakfast item whenever I have company, and a favorite when eating at greasy diners before noon, ya just can't go wrong. This is a recipe I've adapted from an America's Test Kitchen cookbook. Baking french toast brings a whole new purpose for maple syrup. They turn out fluffed and moist with a thin, sweet crunchy shell. It's never dry or too dense, which are both common issues with the traditional pan grilled style french toast. It's really the method I'm wanting to highlight here, the flavors and ingredients can easily be tweaked to please any palate. Just don't forget the CINNAMON!
Baked French Toast
serves 4 or so
8 slices of a hearty white bread or french bread
6 large brown eggs
3/4c cream(milk is ok if your looking for a lighter version)
1 1/2t cinnamon
7 grates or so of fresh nutmeg
1 T pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c grade b maple syrup
2 T light oil, safflower or canola
Set oven to 300. Arrange bread slices on a sheet pan and put in oven to dry, about 10 min. per side, this allows bread to soak up more of the egg batter without getting too soggy, set aside to cool about 4 min. before continuing.
Mix eggs, cream, vanilla, 1/2t cinnamon, nutmeg, salt in a shallow dish (a 13x9 Pyrex works well). Whisk well until fully incorporated. Two at a time, dip cooled bread into batter, turning to coat both sides, about a 20-30 second soak. Place battered bread on a cooling rack set inside a sheet pan, to allow all excess batter to drip off.
Meanwhile, crank the oven up to 425, spread oil on a sheet pan and set in oven to heat, just till oil starts to smoke, about 4 min. When pan has heated, arrange bread on sheet quickly, give each one a little giggle to spread oil underneath. Put in oven to cook first side for about 10 min.
At this point you'll want to mix brown sugar and remaining maple syrup and cinnamon in a bowl to make a nice crumbble topping for bread. After 10 min. remove bread, flip each slice over and top with crumble mix, place back in oven to finish, about 6-8 min more. Let toast cool for a few minutes before serving, I like to top each with a pad of butter while they're still hot.
These really don't need much more. You may find you want a slight drizzle of maple syrup over top, but the addition of the brown sugar crumble really adds a good kick of crunchy sweetness. These are the perfect candidate for a dollop of fresh tart yogurt, to balance out they're ambrosial maple topping.
Enjoy!
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