Eggnog Cheesecake

I made this for Christmas again this year and made the cardinal mistake of opening the pan too early. Huge crack right down the middle, yep! And the sides fell, too. Nonetheless, this is probably one of the best cheesecakes I have ever made. Just don't open the springform pan until it is completely cool.

I have adjusted the spices a bit from the original and upped the cooking time so that it is not a soggy mess. Other than that, squirt on some whipped cream and enjoy!

Eggnog Cheesecake

Ingredients:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons white sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2t. nutmeg
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup eggnog
2 eggs
2 tablespoons rum (I used Captain Morgan spiced rum or you can use 2t. rum flavoring)
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2. In a medium bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons sugar, nutmeg and butter. Press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

5. In a food processor or mixer combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour and eggnog; process until smooth. Blend in eggs, rum and nutmeg. Pour mixture into cooled crust.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

7. Reduce heat to 250 and bake for 55 minutes, or until center of cake is barely firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately loosen cake from rim with a knife (DO NOT open the pan up). Let cake cool completely before removing the rim.

Irish Cream Brownies

I have not blogged in a very very long time. Working full time with a toddler does not allow for kitchen experiments on a regular basis. Now that Christmas is almost here (3 weeks!) I am in full on baking mode and had to post what I have made.

These brownies are from the lovely Paula Deen in her usual rich, buttery, fudgy style. I might have overbaked them a bit but once I partially froze them, they were very easy to cut into 36 small squares. I have added more cocoa and will definitely up the irish cream amount next time as well.
Enjoy!

Irish Cream Brownies
Cooking with Paula Deen, Christmas 2006
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
4 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate (I used 2/3c. chocolate chips)
2 1/3 cups sugar, divided
5 large eggs, divided
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream liqueur
2 T. cocoa


In a medium saucepan, combine butter and chocolate. Cook over low heat until melted, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 13x9x2-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and coat lightly with Pam no-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, beat 2 cups sugar and 4 eggs with an electric mixer until fluffy (about 4 minutes). Gradually add flour and salt. Stir in melted chocolate mixture. Add cocoa.
In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar. Beat with an electric mixer until creamy. Beat in 1 egg and liqueur.
Pour half of chocolate mixture into prepared pan. Spread cream cheese mixture over chocolate mixture. Spread remaining chocolate mixture over cream cheese layer. Run a knife through layers to swirl cream cheese, if desired. Bake for 45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting. (Or partially freeze).

Double Fudge Brownies or I Love Paula Deen

Paula Deen needs to be related to me. I don't think any television cook has ever made me as happy as she has. The recipes in her magazines never fail to delight my guests and are so easy! Even her layer cakes are, well, a piece of cake.

Anyway, before I drool all over the keyboard, here is the recipe for my 'go to' brownie. I made a little icing for them - the recipe included below. But honestly, if you let the brownies cool and sit overnight, they really don't need icing. The flavors will have deepened and the fudgy texture develops. Or, like Josh, you just might need your brownies to have icing.
Enjoy!

Double Fudge Brownies
Paula Deen Holiday Baking 2007

1c. sugar
3/4c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4c. Swiss Mocha flavored instant coffee mix
1 1/4c. all purpose flour
3/4c. chocolate chips
1 c. butter, softened
4 large eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan.

2. In a large bowl, beat all ingredients except chocolate chipson medium speed until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 30 min.

Icing:
Combine 1c. powdered sugar, 1/4c. cocoa, 1 t. vanilla and 1/4c. milk. Add extra powdered sugar until spreadable consistency.

A Twist on the Pumpkin Muffin

Everyone is making pumpkin muffins. Even my sister, who almost never bakes, joined in and made a batch the other night. Justin proclaimed them "really good" which is a triumph for her. I am very impressed. So yes, everyone is making pumpkin muffins.

I have a multitude of recipes that could have done the job last night. Some are tried and true and some I am nervous about, so I haven't made them yet. But this recipe was different from all the others. It contained no fat and only 2T. of sweetener. I was skeptical to say the least.

The recipe read like a big mistake. No fat, very little leavening and whole wheat flour to boot? These would be bricks. Bland, tough bricks. Maybe it is my previous experiences with whole wheat flour in muffins that I have such a preconceived notion of what they will be. While I love the nutty flavor of whole wheat, I despise the leaden quality it brings. Usually I just use half whole wheat in my recipes - the ones with oil in them! This recipe was too sketchy and I almost backed out of the whole project.

Good thing I followed through. These muffins are fantastic. Moist and all the texture of a regular muffin. Plus, for any Weight Watchers point counters, they are only 1.5 points a piece! Wow, pretty good for a muffin.

A few notes -
I changed the spice amounts so that there was more depth of flavor. The original recipe would have been a bit bland and I think the amounts posted in the recipe below could still be kicked up a notch.
The recipe calls for molasses but mine has expired (does molasses even expire? who knew?) so I doubled up the honey amount.
I did add chocolate chips but only because I was worried these would be an utter failure and I thought the chips might save them.
Next time I will sprinkle them with brown sugar and cinnamon before baking because the tops are not pretty in any way and I think the added crunch will be nice.
Also, the muffins harldy rose at all so feel free to fill the pans pretty full.

Be adventurous and try these out. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
Ciao!

Whole Wheat Spice Pumpkin Muffins

2 c. Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp molasses
1 egg
1 egg white
½ cup water
1 can (15 oz) canned pumpkin
Non-stick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Double sift all the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Set aside.
Whisk the egg, egg white, honey, molasses, and water in a large bowl. Mix in the pumpkin.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just mixed (you don’t see anymore dry ingredients). Don’t over mix!
Spread the muffin batter evenly into 2 6-muffin pans sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Bake for approximately 18 minutes.

Apples Everywhere

Ok, so I went a bit overboard. I will admit it. But the woman selling them was so friendly, and they looked so amazing and then we were offered 20% off because my Grandma is a senior. How could anyone say "no" to 50 lbs of orchard fresh apples for only $15?

Well I couldn't, and didn't and so here I am stuck with this enormous case of Gala and Granny Smith apples. They are so fresh and smell so good. I am addicted to the idea of baking with them, but finding the time and the energy is a whole other thing. This is one of those times where I want to quit my job and stay home to work on projects that I enjoy, like baking. Josh always reminds me, though, that not everything about staying at home is as fun as baking. I will agree with him there.

In any event, I started thinking about what I could do with my autumn bounty. Applesauce was an easy choice and I made soup pots full of the stuff with my Grandma. We made it quite simply - she never uses a recipe - just some sugar, cinnamon and lemon zest. I suppose it is like apple butter and less like the applesauce you get in the store, but homemade isn't supposed to taste like the canned stuff or I would have bought a can and saved myself all this work.

What I really wanted, though, was my Apple Strudel recipe. I have made this strudel once, when I was in college and needed to study for a midterm exam. Baking was a wonderful diversion and I think I was drowning in apples at that point as well. This was a strudel recipe made with phyllo dough and the perfect combination of rum, raisins and spices. Every slice was heaven and both strudels were devoured within hours of coming out of the oven. Flash forward years later and I want that recipe. I search high and low, through stacks of Bon Appetit's and Gourmet magazines. Epicurious searched for the beloved recipe and came up empty. Even the Epicurious Community tried to help me but, alas, they did not know of the version I was looking for. So I gave up, found a new version on some obscure cooking website and wished I had the one I really wanted.

As dumb luck would have it, I did find the recipe, and just in time too. For some reason I had set aside a stack of magazines with recipes that I intended to make this year. Stashing the stack beside my bed, I did not search it for the Strudel recipe because I knew I had already looked there. Apparently, not hard enough. In a moment of boredom while watching the election polls, I flipped through the Bon Appetit November 2002 that was set on top. Low and behold, there was the article about the amazing Greek baker, and, better yet, there was my recipe! Hallelujah, my strudel is saved.

Cutting to the chase of this story, the strudel is to die for. I know the dough is phyllo which is a big no-no in my puritan German grandma's mind but the filling is exactly how she would make it, and tastes so much like the Apple Strudel I eat at the local German deli. So consider this the No Pastry Required, Easy Way Out, German Apple Strudel. And if you are Greek, you will prefer this version better anyway.

Nothing really to add to the recipe other than that I used pecans mainly because I know very few people who like walnuts. I don't use as much butter as the recipe calls for because I find the juices from the apples and the rum soak in to the phyllo layers and hold them together regardless of puddles of butter. One other suggestion, I let the apples sit in the cooking juices for about an hour and then use a slotted spoon to remove them onto the phyllo. If you use all the cooking liquid, your strudel will be a soggy mess.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I know I do.
Ciao!

Apple Strudel with Walnuts & Raisins
Bon Appetit 2002

Ingredients:
6 apples, peeled, cored, halved, sliced lengthwise, slices halved crosswise
2 1/2T. fresh lemon juice
1/4c. butter
1/2c. sugar
1/2c. brown sugar
1/2c. brandy or rum
1 t. cinnamon

1/3c. walnuts
3T. sugar
1/4c. raisins
1t. cinnamon

12 sheets phyllo, thawed

1/2c. butter

Directions:
Toss apples and lemon juice in a bowl.
Stir 1/4c. butter and brown and white sugar in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until butter melts.
Add apple mixture and brandy. Simmer until apples are tender and juices are 1/2 evaporated. Stir in cinnamon. Cool completely.
Combine walnuts, sugar and cinnamon in a food processor and pulse until walnuts are coarse. Stir in the raisins.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly oil a baking sheet.
Melt remaining butter in a saucepan and set aside.
Place one phyllo sheet on the work surface with long side parallel to the counter edge. Brush lightly with butter and top with second phyllo sheet. Brush with butter and sprinkle with a few tablespoons walnut mixture. Repeat this process two more times, ending with a plain sheet of phyllo brushed with butter.
Spoon apple mixture into a log about 2inches from the short sides and the one long side of the phyllo stack.
Fold the short sides in and then roll the strudel up, jellyroll style as tightly as possible.
Place seem side down on the baking tray and brush with butter, sprinkling with sugar.
Slice the strudel with 4 slits, just through to the filling.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until lightly brown and juices are bubbling.

An Autumn Cake

Wow what a whirlwind month September was. Heck, so is this month for that matter. Usually by now I have baked enough to feed an army but that is not the case this year. I also lost my food guinea pigs, with the closing of Josh's office. Now where to send the goodies?

To get back into the swing of things, I chose a simple pound cake that would be comfort food and a reminder of the wonderful, cozy season we are now in. This cake comes from the October 2007 Bon Appetit and I am sure many of you have made it already.

Just some quick notes on the cake: I used Pam's Baking spray for the bundt pan and I am in love with this product. The cake slid out perfectly, no breakage at all. I also upped the amount of Maple extract to 2 tsp. and I put this in the recipe below. In my opinion, it needed even more but I like strong flavors. I also did not put in the espresso in the glaze as the original recipe called for. It seemed out of place and I am not a fan of coffee in dessert. Other than that, the cake was delicious, although quite plain. Definitely not too sweet at all. We served it last night with a small scoop of vanilla icecream and it made a wonderful dessert.

For my next project, apple strudel. I made the mistake of going to the closing Farmer's Market near my house and I now have 40lbs of apples to contend with. When will I ever learn
Ciao!

Brown Sugar and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Glaze

Bon Appetit October 2007

Cake:
1 12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons maple extract
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons (or more) whipping cream

Preparation for cake: Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray pan generously with nonstick spray. Dust pan lightly with flour. Mix chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons flour in medium bowl. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract and maple extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chip mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

For glaze: Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons cream in medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding more cream by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle. Spoon glaze decoratively over top of cake; let stand at room temperature until glaze is firm, about 1 hour.

Baking A Classic

More laundry last night. I am starting to think that my clothes multiply while I am at work. I swear I just put in a load of jeans two days ago. This is ridiculous. I wouldn't mind so much if all of our clothes were wash and wear but, being a downtown office job household, all of our weekly clothes have fancy tags with specific instructions. I break the rules constantly resulting in shrunken and mishapen shirts but, for the most part, I try not to ruin our wardrobes. It's a long, boring and thankless job.
In order to break up the tedium, I baked. What a shocker, I know. Making something new from my pile of recipes is so therepeutic. This little gem is a classic. I wrote about it previously on this blog when I was dieting and practically dreaming about cake. Well, I am still dieting so the entire cake was packed up for Josh's office without so much as a bite snuck. It sure smelled good though. And why shouldn't it? The lovely Ina Garten herself made it. Nothing she touches has ever flopped I am sure.
The only thing I did not do was make the Chocolate Ganache glaze which I included in the recipe anyway. Ganache is not a favorite of mine and I am too nervouse of wrecking it to waste the chocolate chips. Besides, I doubled the orange syrup and that made it sweet enough. I would suggest doubling the orange syrup and glazing the cake with half of it right when the cake comes out of the oven. It will soak in right away and make wonderful bubbling noises. Then I glaze it again when the cake is almost cool so that the syrup forms a nice crust. This is the technique I use on all of my bundt cakes and I think it works very well.
My only other issue, as per usual, is that my stove temperature must not be right. It took one hour and 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Not one hour as stated in the recipe. I think, though, in this case it might not be my oven but the recipe that is wrong. I have never made a bundt cake that only took one hour to bake. At any rate, use a knife or a toothpick to check for doneness at one hour.
Ciao!

Ina Garten’s Orange Chocolate Chunk Cake
½ pound unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 extra-large eggs at room temperature
¼ cup grated orange zest (from 4 large oranges)
3 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
¾ cup buttermilk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups good semisweet chocolate chunks
Syrup: ¼ cup sugar ¼ cups freshly squeezed orange juice
Ganache: 8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips ½ cup heavy cream 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the orange zest.
3. Sift together 3 cups flour, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the orange juice, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately in thirds to the creamed butter, beginning and ending with the flour. Toss the chocolate chunks with 2 tablespoons flour and add to the batter. Pour into the pan, smooth the top, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, make the syrup. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, cook the sugar with the orange juice until the sugar dissolves. Remove the cake from the pan, set it on a rack over a tray, and spoon the orange syrup over the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely.
5. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, and coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

A Twist on the Marshmallow Brownie

I don't like to mess with recipes. Sometimes I will add chocolate chips or change the type of liquer used, but for the most part I stick to what is written. Baking is too much of a science to mess with it, and while I admire greatly those cooks who can create and change a recipe, I know it will never be a skill of mine.

Somehow, though, shortly after making the Butterscotch Marshmallow Blondies, I got the brainstorm to rearrange the chips used and create something new. I won't say that this is the brownie winner of winners, but I would make it again with some changes especially because I like the taste of brownies better than blondies.

The only difference I made to the blondie recipe a couple of posts down is to switch the chocolate chips in for the butterscotch and the butterscotch in for the chocolate chips. The only problem with this is that I think butterscotch chips are genetically made different than their chocolate kin and work well as a dough base, whereas the chocolate chips kept the dough kind of dry.

You will also notice in the picture that the marshmallows blew up in the oven and left craters in the top of the brownies. There goes all the gooey marshmallow goodness in the middle of the bars. To remedy this, and I wish I would have thought of it earlier, I would have mixed the marshmallows into 2/3's of the dough and spread into the pan and then spread the remaining 1/3 dough over the top so that the marshmallows were encased inside. That would have been brilliant and way yummier.

So the bottom line is, the switch was do-able and delicious, it just needed more fine tuning. All in all, I love this recipe whether I eat it as chocolate or butterscotch.
Ciao!

Browniebabe of the Month

I really do have a love - hate relationship with Brownies. I love eating them, I hate making them. So it was with great trepidation that I decided to make an entry for Browniebabe of the Month hosted by Once Upon A Tart.
I am not sure what I do wrong exactly. They burn, they sink in the middle, they stay goo-like, they taste like a bad chocolate cake. In every way, my brownies to not make the mark. Well I cant say that entirely. My Malt Brownies are delicious and I wrote a whole post on them, but I do not think that that is a norm with me. The humidity in the air must have been just right or maybe I greased the pan properly or maybe my eggs were fresher than normal. Whatever the case, they worked and I have had at least three failed attempts since. What a big disappointment.
You will notice that my entry is from the blondie family, and for good reason. I honestly think it is the cocoa that is messing me up. I don't think I can properly see what color the batter is turning in the oven. Are they getting too dark? Are they still way too fudgy? So maybe without the chocolate base, I had the chance of being successful.
Turns out, my theory may have been correct. They turned out really nice. I know the pic isnt great, but you have to take my word for it. Even Justin, with a definite hangover, managed to eat an entire one and declared it delicious.
I didn't make many changes to the recipe except to add more baking time. The recipe can be found in various forms on Allrecipes by searching Marshmallow Brownies or Butterscotch Blondies.
Just be forwarned the mixture, before baking, looks like not even close to enough batter and way too many marshmallows. But never fear, those marshmallows turn into the gooey Blondie product in the end.
Ciao!

Marshmallow Butterscotch Blondies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup butterscotch chips
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
Using a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Pour in the butterscotch chips, stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
Mix in the melted butterscotch chips, then the flour, baking powder, and salt until smooth.
Stir in the marshmallows and chocolate chips last.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan. The batter will barely cover the bottom of the pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in preheated oven. Cool, and cut into squares.

Chocolate and Laundry

A night at home and piles upon piles of laundry to do. I don't think that laundry is ever a chore that you can fully say "I'm done!" and walk away. Sadly, no matter how much I wash, there is always twice as much spilling out of the basket. Now I wish I had taken bathrooms when Josh and I first divied up chores.

In amongst the sorting and folding, I felt like chocolate last night. Well I felt like baking and the chocolate craving followed. Here I thought we had bought so many groceries and yet I found myself with very little cocoa and flour and no chocolate chips to be found. That made my choice of recipes quite limited so I settled on these peanut butter chip brownie cups. These are circulating throughout the blogging world but I think they actually originated on Allrecipes. I have a few versions in my files but this one seems to be the best. I would certainly use smaller muffin papers so they look prettier but Josh's office is not picky about such things. They just want to eat. The reviews were raves and I honestly don't have any suggestions to make them better. The recipe said I would end up with 16 and I had 26, I guess it depends how big you make them. Mine were 4 bites, give or take. Actually, if baked in the mini foil papers for Christmas they would be very yummy one biters, though I think the bake time would need to be played with. Also, 25 minutes was perfect, not too gooey and not too dry.

Ciao!

Peanut Butter Brownie Cups Makes 24
Ingredients
1 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package Peanut Butter Baking Chips

Directions
Heat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil bake cups.
In large microwave-safe bowl, place butter. Microwave until melted.
Stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; beat well. Add cocoa; beat until well blended. Add flour, baking powder and salt; beat well. Stir in peanut butter chips.
Divide batter evenly into muffin cups; Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface is firm; cool completely in pan on wire rack.

In Search of Comfort Food

It was a long weekend here in Canada. Sadly, it rained almost the entire time. I feel bad for all the optomistic campers out there who are convinced that the sun will shine as soon as Friday 4pm arrives. They are not so lucky, and while I will admit that leaving town for the three days even in a rainstorm is better than staying at home with not much to do, this weekend proved to be a lazy one. We spent most of it with R & J as usual, but this time they were kid-less which allows for lazy afternoons on the patio and trips to local pubs. The weekend also gave me time to bake yet again, still unphased by the brownie-cookie incident.

Rain always has a way of sending me in a search for a homey comforting dessert of some kind. Cookies and cake won't do it, a light fruity dessert is better for al fresco picnics of which there were none this weekend. No, I wanted something substantial that smelled like my Grandma's house. The only person that I could think of to fill this request was Martha Stewart.

As an aside, I have received many ribbings about my Martha obsession. But to them all, I gladly say that I would not be half the cook, baker and general homemaker if not for her tips and recipes. I have probably 6 years worth of back issues sitting in various piles around the apartment and nothing cheers me up more when I am searching for that "home" feeling.

While flipping through the October issues I have collected - and yes I know it is August right now - I came upon an entire article on the humble Bread Pudding. The basic recipe as well as 4 variations were included and I just knew that this was the recipe I was after. It was simple and would smell delicious and also feeds a crowd.

I made the Banana Rum version but the original is just as good. The secret ingredient I used was the Cinnamon Crunch bread from my local bakery which definitely was dense enough and flavorful enough to stand up to the rest of the ingredients. I would recommend using a denser loaf of bread and preferrably something a bit more exotic than basic challah although that is the easiest option. The recipe came out a bit too soupy and not as eggy as it should so I have tweaked it just a bit and come up with what I think is a fantastic bread pudding. A drizzle of caramel sauce and perhaps some whipped cream would also not go amiss.



Martha Stewart's Bread Pudding
Banana Rum ingredients optional

1 large loaf bread - challah or dense sweet white bread
2c. milk
2c. cream
4 eggs
1 T. vanilla
1c. sugar
1t. cinnamon
1t. nutmeg
Optional:
3T. rum
3T. butter
1/2c. brown sugar
2 large bananas, sliced



Cut the bread into one inch cubes and set aside. Butter a 9x13 casserole dish and set aside.
Heat the milk and cream over medium until just starting to simmer. Remove from heat.
Whisk together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Slowly add the warm milk, by ladlefulls, whisking well so as not to cook the eggs. Poor the mixture over the bread and stir to combine. Place mixture in greased dish and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until the top is brown and the middle is hot and bubbling.

For the rum banana version, add the rum to the custard mixture. Saute the bananas in the butter and brown sugar until soft. Stir the banana mixture into the bread and custard.