1/16/2007 - Fruity Comfort

Bread pudding is one of those classic dishes you either love or loathe from square one.  While some people think it's a most comforting dessert (or snack or breakfast dish), there are a number of people who think of it as just an ersatz way of getting rid of a ton of leftover bread before it goes moldy.

The people in the latter category have obviously never eaten bread pudding the way my mother makes it: so deliciously sweet, tender yet firm to the bite, all cinnamony and raisiny at the same time.  Seriously, it's just plain fabulous! 

However, with Mom so busy with her work with the Mother Butler Guild, she hasn't exactly had the time to transform all the frozen bread (bought and stashed into the deep freeze over the Holidays for the express purpose of making pudding) into a treat worthy of a king.  Since I was stuck at home with a bad chill yesterday, I decided to warm up my sickly constitution by making it myself.  Boy, it turned out exquisite!

The recipe I used yesterday is actually a variation of the Italian bread pudding recipe found in Penny Stevens's cookbook Italian.  It's a dessert made beautifully rich by the addition of cream and apples, but mine has the added charm of cinnamon syrup, pineapple tidbits, raisins, and almonds.  Try it for yourself; it's so comforting that it can help you shake off a bad case of the chills or even the blues.

Midge's Italianate Bread Pudding

• 2 dozen stale pan de sal or 2 stale loaves, sliced or cubed
• 2 apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
• 1 small can pineapple tidbits, drained
• 100 grams granulated sugar, halved
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup butter
• 300mL milk
• 250mL all-purpose cream
• 1 small box raisins
• 1-1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flaked almonds

In a bowl, sprinkle 50 grams of sugar over the apples, pineapple, and raisins.  Mix thoroughly and set aside. 

Whisk together eggs and cream; set aside.  In a heat-proof bowl, melt the butter into the milk (1 minute and 30 seconds on HIGH in the microwave); whisk carefully into the egg and cream mixture.  Add the remaining 50 grams of sugar and whisk until well combined.

In a buttered rectangular baking dish, spread a layer of the cinnamon-fruit mixture.  Top with a layer of bread, pressing down to pack it in.  Spread the remaining fruit over the bread layer and top with more bread.  Drizzle the syrupy residue from the fruit over the bread.  Pour the cream-custard over the layers, making sure to cover everything.  Sprinkle top with flaked almonds and more raisins.  Leave to soak for ten minutes.  Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees / Gas Mark 4.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.  It tastes fabulous alone, but a scoop of ice cream (either plain vanilla or Arce Dairy's Almond and Chips) adds a little extra oomph to it.

12/6/2006 - When Hunger Strikes in the Middle of the Night

Sorry for the spot-on-dreadful picture above, but this is what you end up with if you dare to do a bit of food photography in the middle of the night in kitchen where you've thrown the wrong light switch.

Still, despite the godawful shot, these cupcakes ended up as beautifully golden little domes oozing with lemony sweetness.  I am beginning to think that my mad midnight munchie fest probably stems from the fact that therewas a full moon out last night.  It's either that or the number of recent food blog entries where citrus-flavored cakes, cupcakes, and preserves have been featured.  (I seriously suggest that you check out Stel's citrusy yogurt cake at Baby Rambutan and Obachan's lemon poppyseed muffins and lemon curd over at Obachan's Kitchen and Balcony Garden.)

Anyone who loves lemon in cakes should definitely try to make and eat these babies.  They are so moreish.

Midnight Lemon Cupcakes

• 2-1/2 cups flour
• 1-1/2 cup white granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup orange or mango juice or sweetened lemonade
• 3/4 cup cooking oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract/flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Sift together, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Make a well in the center and pour in oil, eggs, juice, and lemon flavoring.  Mix until you achieve a smooth batter.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees / Gas mark 3.

Line the cups of a standard-size muffin pan with cupcake papers.  Fill cups with batter till about 3/4 full.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Incidentally...  Gackt will be appearing in a major role in NHK-BS2's 2007 Taiga (Japanese feudal period) drama series Fuurin Kazan.  He'll be playing Japanese historical figure Kenshin Uesugi as seen in the photo below.

Gorgeous, ain't he? =^w^=

4/16/2006 - An Easter Treat: The Cake Fit for a Bishop

Happy Easter!!!  (Or, as Mr. Floppy-Ears above would put it, Hoppy Easter!) 

I hope everyone had a lovely Holy Week; it was so quiet here in Manila's southern suburbs.  A trifle busy, though: we were in church from Maundy Thursday to yesterday, Black Saturday.

We don't usually bake for Easter.  Before my brother was ordained to the diaconate, we never felt particularly inclined towards making anything for Easter.  It's odd, considering it's supposed to be a bigger Catholic feast than Christmas.  This year, however, I had a notion to bake something wonderful for today.  Thus, I ransacked every cookbook for an Easter treat.

Unfortunately, the only Easter recipe most books could offer was one for Simnel Cake, a traditional English Easter dessert.  I don't find it particularly appealing; it's just an old-fashioned uber-stodgy fruitcake topped with a thin layer of yellow marzipan and marzipan balls dusted with cocoa to approximate Easter eggs.  Not really my cup of tea since English-style fruitcake tends to be more than a little over the top.

Browsing through Nick Malgieri's A Baker's Tour gave me the sort of recipe that appealed to me in a major way.  Bischofsbrot (German: "bishop's bread/cake") is a classic Austrian recipe for a cake that was traditionally baked for the installation of new bishops and the investiture of cardinals. 

A scrumptious cross between pound cake and biscotti, bischofsbrot comes studded with raisins, nuts, bits of bittersweet chocolate, and candied fruit.  Since I don't particularly like candied fruit, I don't have any rum on hand, and dayap limes are what I have growing in the backyard, I've made a few changes to the cake and ended up with a rather good result.  Try it: it's quite divine. ^_^

Bischofsbrot  

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• grated zest of two dayap limes or one lemon
• 1/2 tbsp. cream liqueur (Bailey's is nice and I used Vodka Mudshake in Caramel for mine)
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
• 1/4 cup pistachio kernels
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 - 1/2 cups flour, sifted

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the flour over the raisins, nuts, and chocolate morsels.  Set aside.

Cream butter until smooth; add confectioner's sugar and beat until light-colored and fluffy.  Add vanilla, grated zest, and cream liqueur.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Transfer to a large mixing bowl.

Whisk together the egg whites at salt until soft peaks are formed.  Add the granulated sugar and beat until soft, glossy peaks are formed.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees/Gas Mark 4.

Fold some of the meringue into the butter mixture; fold in about 1/3 of the flour once the egg whites have been incorporated.  Repeat procedure until all the flour and meringue have been folded into the butter mixture.  Fold in the reserved raisins, nuts, and chocolate.

Pour the batter into a greased and lined 8-inch loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  Allow to cool for about an hour before removing from the pan.  Move to an airtight container and let the flavors develop overnight.  To serve, cut into thinnish slices.

Makes one loaf.