Raspberry White-Chocolate Bread Pudding . . . and a Gift Certificate Giveaway from Blog2Print!

I have two good things to share today. One is a raspberry white-chocolate bread pudding, and the second is a very special giveaway. Imagine my delighted surprise last week when I opened an email from Blog-2-Print, inquiring if I'd have any interest in sponsoring the giveaway of a $35 gift certificate! It will come as no surprise to you that I responded in the affirmative. Yes! Yes!

Are you familiar with Blog-2-Print? If you have a blog yourself (or perhaps you have a friend who does?), you owe it to yourself to get familiar. Blog-2-Print is a service that allows you to make a bound book from a range of your blog's posts, in paperback or hardcover, via their incredibly easy-to-use website. The entire assembly process, from the blogger's standpoint, takes just a few minutes and it literally could not be more user-friendly. Anyone can give the blog-to-book assembly process a free trial run by visiting B2P's website. It's extremely fun to see what your blog would look like as a book, and to flip through it virtually, page by page, with no commitment at all.

Okay, so let's say you decide to actually make a book and place your order. Then what? Well, before you know it your shiny new volume is delivered to you, safe and sound. Expect your heart to skip a beat as you slide it out of the package, inhale that classic new-book aroma, and reverently page through your very own creation. I can tell you this with first-hand certainty because a couple of years ago I gave Blog2Print a whirl myself, using their service to compile a sleek volume covering three months' worth of my own blog's entries. I was especially pleased with the bright color and clarity of the photos, the quality of the paper, and the strong, tight binding. According to Julie, my friendly contact person at Blog2Print, a $35 gift certificate will allow for the production of a paperback book of about 77 pages or a 48 page hardcover. (I'm looking forward to making a new book, too, since Blog2Print generously offered to provide me, as well as our winner, with a $35 gift certificate--woo hoo! Thank you so very much, B2P!)

To enter this giveaway . . .

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment on this post telling me why you'd like to make your blog into an actual book. And, please leave a name of some sort in your comment, okay? (Don't just call yourself "anonymous," because I know you're not really anonymous anyway--you're most definitely someone worth knowing.) Entrants can be from any country--there are no geographic restrictions, so I've been told by Blog2Print. I will announce the winner on Friday, May 4th, and ask that person to contact me via email. I will then provide that lucky individual with instructions so they can retrieve their $35 gift certificate from B2P. So simple . . . yes? Okay, then, we're good to go.

About this recipe . . .

This is an original, non-adapted recipe. I made it using day old Italian bread from a little local bakery, but if you prefer to use a homemade loaf, here's the link to my own favorite Italian bread recipe from a past post; if you use it to make your own bread for the bread pudding, just be sure to leave out the herbs and garlic, and consider substituting melted butter for the olive oil.

I suggest you indulge in a warm serving of this bread pudding topped with a soft dollop of whipped cream. As my dad always used to say, after eating something especially satisfying that my mom had served him, this humble dessert "really hits the spot."

Raspberry White-Chocolate Bread Pudding

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 350, and generously butter a small casserole dish (mine was about 9" x 9" and 2" deep; I recommend using a clear glass dish so you can easily tell if the bottom of the pudding is fully baked before removing it from the oven).

12 oz. frozen raspberries, or about two cups fresh
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 water

In a sauce pan, stir together the raspberries, sugar, and water. Cook over a medium flame until the mixture just comes to a gentle boil; lower the heat, stirring periodically, and let it simmer until it thickens and has reduced by about one third. It should look like raspberry jam that's not terribly thick when it's ready. Remove the pan from the heat and set it aside while you prepare the other ingredients.

6 to 7 large slices of day-old Italian bread, cut into large bite-size chunks (I left the crust on. If you prefer not to use the crust, you'll need a couple of more slices and you may want to consider reducing the amount of milk in the recipe a bit.)
1 cup half & half
2/3 cup milk

3 large eggs
1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 pinch kosher salt

3/4 of grated/shredded white chocolate, or 1/2 cup of mini-white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk together the half & half, milk, vanilla, eggs, sugar, and salt.

Spread half of the bread chunks in your buttered dish. Drizzle half of the milk mixture evenly over the bread, and then pour half of the raspberry sauce evenly over that. Sprinkle with half of the shredded white chocolate. Using the rest of the bread chunks, spread another layer on top. Drizzle with the remaining liquid, and pour the rest of the raspberry sauce over that. Sprinkle with the rest of the shredded white chocolate.

Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let it sit for about twenty minutes before baking; this will allow the bread to absorb some of the liquid. (If you want to delay baking your pudding, you can refrigerate it at this point and bake it within a few hours.)

Bake on the middle rack of your oven for about 35 to 40 minutes, until the top and bottom  look lightly golden and no longer obviously wet. Check it at about 25 minutes; if the pudding seems to be browning on the top too quickly, cover it loosely with foil.

While the baked pudding is cooling on a rack, whip some cream to serve along with it. The pudding is best served warm, not steaming hot. Be sure to refrigerate any leftovers.

(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read any existing comments, please click on the purple COMMENTS below.)

Sweet Corn Bread Pudding with Raisins, Cinnamon, and Maple Syrup . . .

Winter rages on and it's a frosty world out there. The sort of world that calls for big pots of chili, simmering endlessly on the stove, and shiny pans of homemade corn bread puffing up in the oven. Last weekend, that scenario described my kitchen to a T.

For a lunch meeting to be held at my church that Sunday, I cooked up just such a batch of steaming red chili, enough for about 40 people. Along with it went an equally hefty batch of fluffy, sunshine-yellow corn bread. What I didn't know, however, was that another couple also planned to provide a significant amount of food for the same event. I'd had a nagging suspicion that this might occur, but ignored it and didn't take  the initiative to check it out first. No matter. It all worked out fine, of course, and the leftover chili -- about half of what I'd brought -- was poured into zip-loc bags and tucked into in the church's large freezer for future use.

The corn bread, though, didn't seem to me worth freezing. Not because it wasn't good. It was, in fact, a credit to its bready race--nicely moist, slightly sweet and, frankly, kind of hard for me to resist. But corn bread is one of those things, not unlike biscuits, that are only appealing eaten out of hand when incredibly fresh. Don't you think? After all, isn't it a widely accepted fact that corn bread's natural destiny is to dry out, crumble apart, and blow away like top soil in a dust storm?

In light of that harsh reality, I took two bags of the big, soft chunks home with me. This time, I pledged silently, I wasn't going to end up tossing it all in the garbage can. But other than using the stuff once or twice for poultry dressing in the past, I'd never explored surplus corn bread's potential. This time had to be different. There was far too much of it to toss into the trash guilt-free.

So I schemed. And that's how this warm, comforting, corn bread pudding recipe was born. Is it a dessert? Yes. Is it a fabulous brunch item, sort of breakfasty in its own way? Oh, yes to that, too. It's whatever you want it to be. Go ahead . . . explore the leftover corn bread possibilities. You won't be sorry. And your garbage can will thank you.

Sweet Corn Bread Pudding 
with Raisins, Cinnamon, and Maple Syrup
(For a printable version of these recipes, click here!)

Make the corn bread first. (This is a very generic recipe that appears all over; I've seen it on grocery-store brand bags of corn meal, as well as on name-brand containers of corn meal. It's universal!)

Lightly grease an 8" x 8" or 9" x 9" baking pan.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients for the corn bread:

3/4 cup corn meal (Not coarse grain; just the typical grocery store brand will do,)
1 and 1/4 cups All Purpose flour (I used unbleached.) 
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (I used coarse kosher, and a pinch more than this, actually.)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk (I used 2 percent)
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted butter (I used canola oil.)

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the liquids. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients, and stir just to combine. Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and bake for about 20 minutes or so, until the top is lightly brown around the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack, in the pan.





To make the bread pudding:

Lightly butter a deep casserole dish, approximately 9" x 9" or so. (A clear glass dish is your best bet for this.) Preheat oven to 325.

Ingredients for the bread pudding:

Approximately 6 cups of corn bread cubes (Cut generous bite-size cubes.)
2 cups milk (I used 2 percent)
1 cup heavy cream
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I used Trader Joe's brand.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt (I used regular salt)
1/2 cup dark raisins (Or more if you're crazy about them.)

Spread the cubed corn bread out on a half-sheet pan (the kind with shallow sides), and put it in the 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes, until it feels dry but not until it looks toasted (it doesn't need to "color"). Remove it from the oven and set it aside to let it cool.

Turn the oven up to 350 degrees.

In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together well the milk, cream, eggs, and maple syrup. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add the sugar mixture to the liquids and whisk briskly.

Pile the cooled corn bread cubes into your prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle the raisins evenly over the cubes and tuck them in here and there so they're not just on the top of the pudding. Pour the liquid slowly over the cubes, taking care to make sure none are left completely dry. Lightly pat the top down a bit to help ensure every cube will absorb some of the liquid.

Let the pudding sit for 15 minutes or so before you put it in the oven, again to ensure that it has a chance to absorb the liquid.

Bake the pudding for approximately 60 minutes, until the top looks toasty and golden, and the bottom shows some golden color as well. The middle of the pudding should be wet but not jiggly. Check on the pudding about halfway through the baking time to be sure the top's not browning too quickly. Cover the top lightly with foil if that's starting to happen.

Cool the pudding on a rack, and serve it from the pan while still warm, each serving drizzled with a little maple syrup, if you like. Be sure to store any leftovers in the fridge.

(If you'd like to comment on this post, or to read any existing comments, please click on the purple COMMENTS below!) 

 

Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce . . .

Consider yourself in luck! I'm going to spare you my usual gigantic preamble. Really. I am. There's a first time for everything, right?

I just wanted to share this recipe while you're still craving apples. (You are still craving apples, and things made with apples, aren't you? . . . Good. Me too.)

This humble little recipe may be an amalgam of every bread pudding recipe I've ever seen. Then again it may not be. So there. (One might say it has no provenance, so to speak; it just exists.)

And the caramel sauce formula is a simple adaptation of about six such recipes I've either made or considered making here and there over time. They always seem to be called either "caramel sauce" or "brown-sugar sauce" or "butterscotch sauce" or "brown-sugar butter sauce" or some variation thereof. I think this one tastes more caramel-like than anything else, so that's what we're calling it here, okay? Okay.

Your kitchen is going to smell really, really good while this baby's baking. Just warning you.

Apple Cinnamon Bread Pudding . . . with Caramel Sauce

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

To make the bread pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 2-quart shallow casserole dish.

5 heaping cups of firm white-bread cubes (make the cubes about 1" x 1"; I used a little loaf of homemade white bread that was just starting to get stale and it worked pretty well)
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 extra-large eggs (or 4 large)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon (you can always use more if you're utterly wild about cinnamon)
1 pinch salt
1 heaping cup apple pieces, chopped in small pieces (I used one extra large Honeycrisp apple and that yielded enough-- about 1 and 1/3 cups; it's a very firm, crisp, sweet apple)

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

Scatter the bread cubes evenly in the casserole dish. Scatter the apple pieces evenly over the bread cubes.


Sprinkle one half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture evenly over the top.


In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs well. Pour the milk, cream, pinch of salt, and vanilla extract into the bowl and whisk gently until well combined.

Add all of the remaining cinnamon-sugar to the liquid, and whisk that in until well combined.

Pour the liquid mixture evenly over the top of the bread and apple pieces. Try to make sure all of the bread gets drenched in liquid. Let the casserole sit for 15 minutes before you put it in the oven; the bread likes to have a chance to soak up some of the liquid.


Bake for approximately 45 minutes. The top should be quite golden brown and the middle of the pudding should be a bit wiggly, but not wet looking.

To make the caramel sauce:

1/4 cup salted butter
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup 1/2 & 1/2
2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/4 cup corn syrup
2 Tbsp. apple juice or cider

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together over low heat. When the butter's completely melted, while stirring constantly slowly pour in the 1/2 & 1/2, the heavy cream, the corn syrup, and the juice/cider. Still stirring, now over medium-low heat, cook for a couple of minutes, until the mixture looks and feels like the sugar has completely dissolved. Let the sauce cool just a bit before pouring a tablespoon or two on individual servings of the bread pudding. Refrigerate any leftover sauce.

(If you'd prefer not to use the sauce, which is pretty sweet, another nice option is a spoonful of unsweetened whipped cream on top of the pudding servings instead. This is a dessert that's best served warm.)


(If you'd like to comment on this post, or read any existing comments, just click on the purple COMMENTS below!)

Retro Desserts, Part II: Dark-Chocolate Bread Pudding . . . with Whipped Cream

Chocolate bread pudding wasn't really on my agenda this week, one might say it just happened. And what a happening it was.

Of course, for typical American-style bread pudding you need typical American bread, and, typically, that means white. In my household we're not regular consumers of prefab, sliced, white bread at all--I can't even remember the last time I bought it. But, in my efforts to gain some skill in baking yeast bread, I figured I'd better learn to walk with the easy, fluffy, white stuff before I try to run with the chewy, nutty, brown breads. So a few days ago, using a new recipe, I made a batch of of white sandwich-bread dough, and the loaves it yielded were . . . well . . . they were lovely.

And speaking of "retro" . . .

As I pulled the pans one by one from the oven, I gazed at the loaves and thought to myself, ". . . my gosh, they're too perfect . . . they look like they're right out of one of those old 'Dick and Jane' books." (Yeah, right, the one titled "Dick and Jane Convince Their Mother, Who is Always Neatly Coiffed and Clothed in a Freshly Ironed Dress and Moderately High Heels, to Bake Her Own Bread" -- haa! I don't think that one's been written yet.) Needless to say, I was pleased with them. Coupled with the French baguettes I managed not to destroy last weekend, I've chalked up two yeasty successes in one week--previously unheard of for me. I'm on a roll.

Anyway, I made three sandwich loaves, all in pans of differing sizes. They were warm, golden, and charmingly rounded on top. Just like the three bears--big, medium, and small--they were darn cute. And let's face it, I'm so grateful when yeast cooperates with me that I could just about weep whenever things actually turn out the way they're supposed to. It's kind of pathetic, I know.

But enough about the bread, get to the pudding already!

My kids aren't big on white bread and that, of course, is a very good thing nutritionally, but they loved this stuff, especially slathered with peanut butter and jam. Thus the two smaller loaves went quickly, and just slightly less than half of the large loaf was still available yesterday when I happened to be sitting at the kitchen table sorting through some old handwritten recipe cards. As I pondered the dog-eared card for chocolate bread pudding, I realized I had just enough homemade bread left to give it a whirl, and I had all the other ingredients on hand as well. Nothing to stop me.

It seems to me (and perhaps you've noticed too?) that bread pudding recipes often indicate you should remove the crust from the bread before you cut it into cubes. I've always figured, though, if the bread itself is of really nice quality, and the crust isn't too chewy, stale, or tough, why not leave the crust on? I mean, let's be reasonable. So, in my instructions below I don't recommend removing the crust unless you feel compelled to do so, perhaps by forces beyond your control.

Now, bread pudding, as you know, isn't the type of dessert that will ever win a beauty contest. It's majesty lies not in its looks and form, but in its texture and taste. A dollop of softly whipped cream atop a little bowl of chocolate bread pudding enhances its visual appeal considerably, of course, but also adds immeasurably to its ambrosial yum factor. So be sure to have some cream for whipping on hand when you make your pudding . . . you won't regret it.

(And as for this recipe's attribution, well, all I know is that my late mom said she got it "from a newspaper" a few dozen years ago. That's not much to go on, but in this case it'll have to do. That's retro enough for me!)

This fantastic stuff can be eaten warm, room temp, even cold--you name it--it's that good.


Dark-Chocolate Bread Pudding

(For a printable version of this recipe, click here!)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking/casserole dish.

4 cups whole milk (I didn't have any whole on hand so I used 2 cups of 2-percent and 2 cups heavy cream instead)
1/4 c. unsalted butter (I think it'd be fine with less butter, especially if you're using any cream)
4 oz. dark, bittersweet chocolate
4 oz. semisweet chocolate
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
3 cups soft fresh white bread cubes, about 1" square (with or without crust as you prefer)

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk/cream, the butter, and all of the chocolate. Heat the mixture over medium heat, just until it comes to a boil, stirring frequently.


In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract.


Add the bread cubes to the egg mixture and stir to completely coat all the bread cubes well.


Pour the hot milk and chocolate mixture over the bread cubes in the large bowl. Gently stir to mix, without breaking up the bread cubes.

Pour it all carefully into your buttered dish.

Bake until pudding is just "set" and still wobbly in the center but not wet looking, usually 45 minutes at least. Try not to overbake. (I baked mine on top of a cookie sheet to catch any spills.)

Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold, plain or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Makes at least six servings.

(If you'd like to comment on this post or read any existing comments, just click on the purple COMMENTS below!)