Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding with Apples!

Good morning and happy Monday to all you awesome people! Yesterday I went on a bit of cooking spree, but as you all know, I make dessert before dinner. And this will last for 2-3 days hopefully.  Thought I’d open up to welcome everyone on a beautiful Monday here (before the last snowstorm of the year hits tonight)…That last one of the year is purely my hopes though..

I’ve never done bread pudding in my life! Never tasted in my life but it does look like all kinds of delicious.  So I went out and bought some cheap whole wheat Weight Watchers cinnamon-raison bread that was on special at the grocery store.  I never usually buy that but if I messed up at least I’d know it was with unexpensive bread, right? Plus, it has to be healthy at the very least.

 

I got this recipe out of Looneyspoons cookbook.  Its by Janet and Greta Podleski and you know what funky name she gave this recipe? Puddin’ on the Ritz! Cute, right?

Here’s the recipe! Also I have put stars next to ingredients from the recipe that I changed and the alternatives will be after the recipe:

Serves 6 (if you cut it in bigger pieces than I did)

Ingredients:

4 cups cubed cinnamon-raisin bread

1 cup peeled and chopped Granny Smith apple*

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup 2% evaporated milk*

1/2 cup skim or 1% milk*

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

 

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven at 350F.  Spray an 8×8 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside

2) Toss bread crumbs and apples together in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk together brown sugar and eggs.  Add evaporated milk, skim milk, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Whisk again.

3) Pour milk mixture over bread cubes and apples.  Mix well.  Let stand for 15 minutes for bread to absorb liquid.

4) Transfer mixture to baking pan.  Make sure apples are evenly distributed throughout pan.  Bake for 50 minutes, until bread is a deep golden brown and puffed up.  A knife inserted in the center should come out clean.  Slice into 6 squares and serve warm.

 

It was relatively easy to make.  For the modifications, first of all, I did not have Granny Smith apples so I used Royal Gala.  As for milk, I replaced it with almond milk and as for the evaporated milk, it was melted vanilla coconut milk ice cream that I used.  I think it actually didn’t do it much harm.

I thought the taste was pretty good.  Not too sweet and the texture was pretty interesting.  I’m not exactly sure if its really that but I will try the banana bread pudding next.

Is this what bread pudding should look like? If you know, please tell me! It was a pretty good first experience.  Do you know any other substitutes for evaporated milk?

Baked Chinese New Year Cake

Chinese New Year is right around the corner.  This year its just me and my boyfriend celebrating together.  My mom has yet again gone on her vacation and to represent our family for my cousin’s wedding in Australia.  Fun times, right?

Before she left, I asked her to leave me the recipe for this wonderful little dessert that we have to ring in the New Year’s.  Just saying, this weekend will most probably be the first recipe up for A Bite of China project. I added the link there so you can check it out.  We are going to ring in the Year of the Snake in style 🙂

For now, we start with my attempt at this delicious dessert:

Before I tell you more, here is the recipe:

CHINESE NEW YEAR CAKE

Ingredients:

1 bag (400g) White Glutinous Rice Flour

2 1/4 cups Milk (but I used water)

2/3 cup cooking oil

1 1/3 cups sugar (I only used 1 cup)

1 tsp baking powder

3 small eggs (or 2 large)

Optional:

1 cup Coconut flakes (I used coconut shreds)

some Toasted Sesame Seed (skipped these)

Right out of the oven, it tends to be puffy but it will go back down as it cools down

Directions:

1) Mix above 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Use electric mixer to beat 3-5 minutes at slow/medium speed and 5-7 minutes at high speed until bubbles formed.  Add coconut flakes

2) Pour the cake mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper or non-stick spray to prevent cake sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top of the cake (if you desire).

3) Put the pan in a preheated oven at 350F and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top of the cake turns golden.

4) Cut the cake after cooling at least 10 -15 minutes.

If you look at the ingredients, you’ll see what changes I made.  Just a confession (and I blame it on fatigue and stress), instead of baking powder, I used baking soda.  However, it did turn out pretty decent. I figure it might change the consistency a bit.  Just be super attentive if you do that that the glutinous rice flour doesn’t get stuck at the bottom of the large bowl.  That happened to me and the electric mixer just doesn’t go that far so remember to scrape the bottom a bit to make sure you get it mixed thoroughly.

Also, stick with non stick spray or oil to prevent the cake from sticking to the baking pan.  I was trying out parchment paper for the first time and the glutinous rice flour has that name because it gets very sticky and it just stick onto the parchment paper as I tried to cut a piece out.  Ended up sitting there peeling off the little pieces of parchment paper before I could taste it.  Just warning you to save you the hassle.

As for the taste, despite all my little changes, I may have taken away the sugar but adding the coconut shreds (which my mom doesn’t do) helped compensate for that and gave it a nice texture to bite into.  Definitely going to try it another time WITH BAKING POWDER this time and probably will post an update at the bottom.

Do you enjoy trying food or desserts from other cultures? Which ones do you like? Any recommendations?

Deluxe Christmas Fudge Bites

Anyone lovers of fudge? I know a few people that would jump up with joy if they saw this.  However, its the first time that I’ve ever taken up the challenge of making fudge.  This year, I wanted to make a little change so I did this one: Deluxe Christmas Fudge.  I halved the recipe but poured it into a 9×9 inch baking pan so it turned out to be more fudge bites.  Still, everyone who tasted it loved it.

 

DELUXE CHRISTMAS FUDGE BITES (inspired from Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup miniature marshmallows

1/2 can (7 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup pistachio nuts

1/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1. Line 9×9 inch square pan with foil, leaving 1 inch of foil overhanging at two opposite sides of pan.  Grease foil with butter.

2. In 4 cup microwaveable measuring cup, place chocolate chips, marshmallows and milk.  Microwave uncovered on High 3 to 5 minutes, stirring every minute, until marshmallows and chips are melted and can be stirred smooth.

3. Stir in vanilla, nuts and cherries.  Immediately pour into pan.  Refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.  Remove fudge from pan, using foil edges to lift.  Cut into little bite size pieces or into diamond shapes.

These are absolutely beautiful.  It was supposed to be with an 8 cup microwaveable measuring cup which I don’t own so I halved the recipe.  The recipe on top is adapted to what I used and how I did it.  However, all you have to do is double everything and you will have the actual Deluxe Christmas Fudge a la Betty Crocker style.

As a side note, you could also decorate it with melted vanilla baking chips.  All you have to do is melt and drizzle on top of the fudge before popping it into the fridge.

Fudges are new to me however, I think a lot of people are quite familiar with it.  Do you like cherries and pistachios in fudge? What other ingredients work well with fudge? Other varieties?