Blackberry Bread Pudding

I have a freezer confession. I don’t use it very well most of the time. The ice-maker comes in handy, of course, and I couldn’t live without the freezer for the short time ice cream spends in it until it’s gone. But, when I actually store things away for a later date, I always leave them to frost over in the dark, forgotten depths. At some point, I’ll reorganize the contents only to find parts and pieces of things I thought I’d use and never did. Those quail wings intended for a stock, the extra pasta dough that I might have rolled into ravioli, and the lima beans I didn’t have time to cook last fall but was sure I’d turn into a gratin some day, were never used. I may have finally turned a corner though. During our far too short blackberry season, I popped some berries in the freezer knowing I couldn’t possibly forget those little gems. Then, when I baked those brioche pastries and used the extra dough for a brioche loaf, the bread when into the freezer. I had a vision of blackberry bread pudding happening when the time was right, and I really did it this time. There’s an Apple-Apple Bread Pudding in Baking: From My Home to Yours made with caramelized apples and apple butter. In the side-note, Dorie suggests trying the same technique with other fruits and jam. My frozen blackberries were thawed and macerated with sugar, and my brioche loaf was sliced and spread with Confituras blackberry jam for this summery bread pudding version. 

At a cooking class I attended a few years ago, I learned something about bread pudding that completely changed my thinking about it. In that class, the bread pudding was made with corners of the bread intentionally sticking up out of the custard. That way, lots of edges became crispy while the lower parts of the bread absorbed the custard. It was the good mix of textures that I really liked, and now I always keep that in mind in making bread pudding. Here, the brioche loaf was sliced and the pieces were slightly toasted in the oven to dry them. Each piece was cut in half and then spread with blackberry jam. One layer of jam-coated bread slices was placed in the baking dish, and the sugar-macerated blackberries and juice were poured over the bread. The remaining bread was arranged on top, and a rich custard made with milk, cream, eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla was poured over all the bread. It was left to sit so the bread could soak in the custard for about half an hour before it was baked. For baking, the dish was placed in a roasting pan and both went into a 325 degree F oven. Boiling water was poured into the roasting pan to come half-way up the side of the baking dish, and the bread pudding baked for an hour and 25 minutes. 

After it cooled for a bit, the pudding was easy to cut into wedges of custard-filled bread layered with jam and fruit. I served it with bourbon whipped cream and sliced peaches, and the crunchy tops and tender lower layers were delightful. Maybe I should start leaving notes for myself about what’s been shoved into the freezer. Or, maybe I just always need a really good plan like this one for what gets stored, and then I’ll surely make good on it. 

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Espresso Cardamom Crumb Cakes

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the big bake sale that was being planned to raise funds for recovery efforts in West, Texas. I’m thrilled to report that it was a huge success, and we’re all so thankful to everyone who came out for the sale and made donations online. The total raised was over $19,000! As planned, I baked more of the Chocolate Chip and Cherry Scones, and I wanted to bring a second option to the sale as well. I was in a crumb cake kind of mood, and really, I’m always in the mood for a crumb topping. I found a great recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours for a Cardamom Crumb Cake that has orange zest and espresso powder in the cake itself and in the crumb topping. I had to try it. Since I was baking for a bake sale, I made individual, small cakes in paper molds that are actually made for crumb cakes or so says the label. The little cakes were easy to slip into cellophane bags. I doubled the recipe in the book, lined up the paper cups on a baking sheet, and started filling them until the batter was gone. I ended up with ten little cakes. These paper molds are sturdier than a regular cupcake liner, but they didn’t hold their shape perfectly. What was perfect was the aroma of cardamom, espresso, and orange zest as the cakes baked. 

You start with the most important part—the crumbs. Flour, chopped toasted walnuts, sugar, orange zest, instant espresso powder and I always add a little extra, and cardamom were combined in a bowl. Butter was then worked into the flour mixture but not overworked. Big pieces of crumb topping are always a good thing. For the cake, flour, baking powder, and salt were combined with more cardamom and espresso powder. More orange zest was mixed with sugar, and Dorie suggests rubbing the sugar and orange zest together with your hands. It releases the oil from the zest and ensures the zest will be well-distributed in the batter. The wet ingredients included melted and cooled butter, eggs, whole milk, brewed coffee, and vanilla extract, and they were whisked together and then stirred into the dry ingredients. I scooped the batter into the crumb cake cups and topped each cup with crumb mixture. My little cakes baked for about 20 minutes. 

I only kept one cake at home to taste and soon wished I kept at least two. But, luckily, it’ll be quick and easy to mix up the batter and crumbs again. In the book, Dorie includes a tip about baking extra crumbs on a baking sheet and using them to top pots de creme or ice cream. That’s one more reason I’ll be making this again soon. 

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Chocolate-Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

The other day, I mentioned that my blog had just become four years old. During those four years, I’ve visited lots of other blogs and seen lots of fabulous food. I’ve always enjoyed reading about the results of the different baking and cooking groups that show dishes from Dorie Greenspan’s books. I never got around to joining the groups since I knew I’d somehow manage to miss every deadline for posts, but every time I see a dish chosen by the groups, I can’t wait to try it. I think about that every time I open one of Dorie’s books. So, at last, I’ve baked the Chocolate-Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars from Baking: From My Home to Yours. Even though I’ve seen these bars on other blogs in the past, I didn’t quite realize what they're really like. These cookie bars are serious business. They’re crunchy, chewy, chocolaty, nutty, and delicious. Cutting these into small pieces is a good idea since they are filling, but I think they’re actually better than a candy bar. Dorie recommends serving them cold which keeps the layers firm, and I agree.

These bars are baked in a nine- by thirteen-inch baking pan, and the recipe makes a lot of cookies once they’re cut into small pieces. The bars can be frozen and thawed in the refrigerator. You start by making the oatmeal layer which becomes both the bottom surface and the crumble on top of the cookies. That’s made by creaming butter with brown sugar, then adding eggs and vanilla. Flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon are added next, and then oats and chopped peanuts are stirred into the dough. A couple of cups of dough are set aside, and the rest is pressed into the buttered baking pan. The chocolate layer was next, and that was made by melting chocolate chips with sweetened condensed milk, butter, and salt in the top of a double-boiler. Once melted, vanilla, raisins, and peanuts were added. The chocolate mixture was poured over the oatmeal layer in the baking pan, and the remaining oatmeal dough was scattered on top. The bars baked for about 30 minutes, were cooled, and then refrigerated before cutting.

It’s delightful knowing I have a stash of these bars in the freezer. They’re there for me any time I need a candy bar or cookie fix. They work for both kinds of cravings. And, when they run out, I’ll have to move on to something else I've read so much about over the last few years.