Bread pudding! Breakfast & dessert all in one...

Whenever I have leftover bread, I will make bread pudding. It is a great way to use up those harden/dried up bread that you have sit around. Personally, I don't recommend sour dough bread or any strong taste bread such as pumpernickel, or thinly slice sandwiches bread, since you want to be able to see chunk of bread "peeping" through the custards.

Bread pudding can be make w/ fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate, or dried fruits, so basically, ANYTHING! Not to mention, it is very versatile & forgiving, as long you have eggs, milk/cream/heavy cream, even coconut milk! I had a half loaf of brioche leftover from a few days ago and a half container of homemade mini marshmallow left from X'mas, so I decided to make bread pudding - S'mores w/ coconut!


S'mores Bread Pudding w/ Coconut

1 loaf Brioche/french bread/hard crust bread

5 Eggs, Beaten
2 C Milk/Heavy Cream/Half & Half
2 t Vanilla Extract

8 oz Dark Chocolate Chip
4 oz Mini Marshmallow
3 oz unsweetened coconut

• Cut bread into 1.5" cube, place it in 9 x 13 baking dish.
• Combine eggs, milk, and vanilla extract; pour over cubed bread.
  
• Push the bread down into the mixture & make sure the breads are covered. Pour in a little more milk/cream if necessary.
• Mix in chocolate chip, marshmallow, and HALF of coconut
• Bake at 300 F for about 30 min, sprinkle the remaining coconut on the top of bread pudding. Bake until the center is clean when the tooth pick entered, about 20 minute.
• Let cool. Serve warm w/ chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, or even a scoop of ice cream!
  

Tea Time...

I love tea! Mainly because it relaxes me & make me feel civilized. For me, nothing is better than a pot of good Earl Grey & cucumber sandwiches at the tea time, maybe a couple truffles. I guess I will have to settle for a pot of Rooibos Lemon Chiffon & Matcha shortbread cookies, since I am currently out of EG.

Shortbread cookies are basically buttery cookies that can be either cut or mold to shape (just like Speculaas). Dough can be make ahead of time either refrigerated up to 1 week or freeze it up to 2 months time. If frozen, be sure to thaw out in the fridge over night before using.


Matcha Shortbread

2 C Flour
2 T Matcha
1/2 t Salt

1/2 C Butter, soften, unsalted (2 sticks)
1 C Sugar

• Cream butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes on high speed
• Mix all dry ingredients together and add slow to the creamed butter & sugar. Only mix until the dough comes together.
  
• Wrap dough & refrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
• Roll dough out to about 1/8" thick, cut and bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes, until the edge is lightly browned.
  

Note: if you don't have a mixer, you may sub sugar with powered sugar & just mix it well w/ butter and proceed w/ the next step.

Dutch Baby!

Dutch Baby, sometimes called a German pancake or a Bismarck. It is basically an oven puffed pancake that make with eggs, milk, and flour. Traditionally, it is baked in mental pan or cast iron pan & serve immediately with fresh squeezed lemon, butter, and powdered sugar or fruit toppings. They are easy to make, fun to watch, and definitely a change of scenery for your breakfast table!



Dutch Baby

3/4 C Milk
2 Eggs
1 1/2 T Sugar
1 1/2 t Vanilla Extract
1 pinch Salt

1/2 C AP

• Whisk eggs and sugar together until combine
• Whisk in milk, salt, and vanilla extract.
• Slowly whisk in the flour, no lumps.

Serving

• Preheat oven to 450 F, and heat your serving dish (I used Pyrax pie pan) for at least 5 min.
  
• Sray the pan then slowly pour the batter into the heated dish, bake for 5-10 min, until the sides risen
  
• Turn the heat down to 380 F and bake for another 10 - 15 min, until the center puffed.
• Dust with powered sugar & serve (I had served w/ homemade berry sauce)
  

Berry Sauce

1 C Mix Berries
2 T Sugar
1 t Cinnamon

• If you are using frozen berries, like I do, please thaw the berries 1st.
  
• Toss the berries w/ sugar & cinnamon, and let sit in room temp for about 20 min. Use immediately.
  
• If you prefer to have a thicker sauce, drain the juice and cook it to thicken, about 10 min. Let cool & add the berries back to the thicken juice.
  

Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee... one of the classic, easy & impressive! Many people get turned off by the fact the egg yolk needs to be tempered with the hot milk, but my trick from a French chef that I once worked for will make this easy & less scary!


Creme Brulee

3 Egg Yolks
45g Sugar

375g Heavy Cream
1/2 Vanilla Bean
2 t Vanilla Extract

• Split and scrap the vanilla bean and add to half the cream
  
• Scold half the cream w/ the vanilla bean and sugar, until sugar is melted
  
• Remove the cream & add the other half of scream, whisk to combine
• Add the egg yolk to the mixture, whisk to combine
• Refrigerated over night, strain before use.
• Bake at 325 F for 25 - 30 min, depends on the size of your dish.
  

Ooh-la-la Lava Cake

Lava cake is a stable of my kitchen. It's quick & simple, can be make ahead of time & refrigerated up to 2 weeks. The flavor of the mixture can be changed depends on liqueur that you added or extract. A teaspoon of ginger or cinnamon will change up the flavor dramatically, make it a nice finish to your dinner during cold winter months!

When you feel like a little of chocolate fix, pop it into 350 F oven for about 20 minutes, serve with a scoop of ice cream. There is nothing better in the world at that moment!!



Lava Cake

4 oz Dark Chocolate
3 oz Unsalted Butter

.4 oz Corn Starch
5 oz Sugar

2 Eggs
2 Yolks
3/4 t Liqueur/Flavoring/Vanilla Extract

• Melt Chocolate & Butter in a pot, medium heat, stir often to avoid burning, heat off.
  
• Whisk in sugar & cornstarch, mix well
• Whisk in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, until combine.
• Place the mixture into an air-tight container and refrigerated for at least 4 hours.

Serving:

• Preheat the oven to 350 F
• Brush a ramekin w/ butter & coated in sugar and fill 2/3 of ramekin w/ batter.
• Depends on the size of your ramekin, bake until the top is cracked, roughly 15-20 minutes
• Serve immediately w/ a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream (homemade is the best!)