BB: Croissant Bread Pudding

The first Barefoot Blogger recipe for the month of December was a super-delicious, easy-to-make bread pudding.

Made with croissants, eggs, half & half, and dried fruit, this treat was chosen by Peggy from Pantry Revisited.


Due to the richness of the ingredients and the fact that there are only two of us (both croissant lovers), I chose to make only one third of the recipe. Good thing, too, since 2 of the 4 croissants disappeared soon after arriving home.


In lieu of raisins, I decided to use dried sour cherries. They add a nice tartness that balances the richness and sweetness of the bread pudding part.


Because it requires a fair amount of time to bake, I made the pudding for last night's dessert. It turned out that I was the only one home for dessert, so with great restraint, I only ate half.


Tonight, I can truthfully report that this bread pudding is every bit as delicious cold and straight from the refrigerator as it was at room temperature the night before.

I suspect it might even be gone before morning's light.

This recipe is definitely worth the time to make. Stop by the other Barefoot Bloggers to see if they agree.

TWD: Lime Sablés

First, a warning. These are dangerous cookies. Delicious, but dangerous, and not from a calorie point-of-view either.

These cookies can draw blood, as evidenced by the fact that one of the sparkling sugar bits sliced open the tip of my tongue last night.

Bad cookie.


Danger aside, these cookies can be made in a variety of flavors and are easy to make and bake at a moment's notice. I chose lime because it's a favorite flavor and I had fresh limes from my tree. The spice variety was tempting as well, so that will be next on the list.



If you want to give these French shortbread cookies a try, go to Barbara's blog, where you will find the recipe along with some great cookie-making tips. If you want ideas for flavor variations, check out the other bakers on the TWD blog.

TWD: Pears and Alligators

See Isabelle.



See Isabelle get her teeth cleaned.



And you thought quilt meetings were only about quilting!! Silly!


Today was my day to host our semi-monthly small group quilt meeting. Lucky friends! They got to have Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart for dessert.




My only frustration came when I was disemboweling the poached pears. I used Red Anjou pears and they sure had a tough center to remove. It took 2 knives and a sharp-fanged strawberry scooper thingie to render them edible. Not to mention all the poaching liquid splattered everywhere.


I used a local wine for the poaching liquid, a 2005 Syrah from Cantara Cellars.



The pistachio-sour cream filling was delicious. There was a little left over along with a few pear slices. That will make a nice treat.

The finished tart was gorgeous.



This week's recipe was chosen by Lauren of I’ll Eat You. It required more steps than the usual recipe, but luckily, some components can be made ahead of time with a last minute assembly. All ladies agreed that the tart was delicious and the sauce added a nice flavor.

Stop by the other TWD blogs to see more tarts.


Isabelle's teeth are now nice and white.

BBD 24: Mixed Breads

November marked the resumption of the monthly Bread Baking Day, created by Zorra. Challenge #24 is hosted by El Aroma de Idania.


This challenge gave me the opportunity to bake another bread from the ABin5 cookbook by Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg.

I chose the Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread so I could use both a variety of grains as well as some leftover pumpkin puree.



Using one third of the dough, I made a loaf. While it didn't rise very high, it was very moist and especially delicious toasted.



The second third of dough was made into dinner rolls. These rose just fine and, again, were delicious split and toasted.



The remaining third of dough is still in the fridge. It will either become rolls (again) or a small boule.

Anyway you bake this bread, it is tasty and healthy.

Look for all the other entries in the coming days.


Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread

(Makes 3 1 1/2-pound loaves)

1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 tablespoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rye flour
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix yeast and salt with the water, melted butter, and honey in a 5-quart bowl or lidded food container.

Mix in the oatmeal, pumpkin, and flours without kneading.

Cover loosely and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, about 2 hours.

Refrigerate, loosely covered, and use over the next 9 days.

On baking day, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1 1/2-pound piece. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn each time.

Shape the dough into either a loaf, rolls, or boule, or any other shape you desire.

Place on prepared surface or in a lightly greased pan. Allow to rest and rise for about 2 hours, depending on the temperature conditions.

Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the loaves or rolls. Bake until the crust is browned and firm.

Cool before slicing or eating.

YWPWT: Pumpkin Pie with a Twist

It finally happened! It was my turn to choose a theme for the pie-baking group, You Want Pies With That?



But, oh, the difficulty of deciding. You would think this would be an easy task. You would be wrong.

After several false starts, I finally made up my mind. In honor of the holidays, I chose Pumpkin Pie with a Twist. You see, I always make my favorite pumpkin pie recipe every Thanksgiving. It's a dark and mouth-tingling spicy pie, which I dearly love. Every year, though, I wistfully imagine myself breaking out of the box and trying a new version, but it never happens. So, I figured if I challenged myself, along with everyone else, there would be a bunch of new pumpkin pies to try next year.

Meanwhile, as the month of November progressed, quite a few alternative pumpkin pies began showing up in blogland. I know that the YWPWT pie bakers will be ever so clever, so I'm really anticipating the results.


For my entry, I "baked" a Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie.

First, I prepared a 9" baked pie shell.

Next, I spread one pint of softened ginger ice cream on the bottom of the shell and placed the pie in the freezer to harden the ice cream.



While the pie was in the freezer, I prepare the next layer.

I combined 1 cup of canned pumpkin, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. (Told you I like it spicy!)



To that mixture, I folded in 1 cup of whipped whipping cream.



I spread the pumpkin/whipped cream mixture over the frozen ginger ice cream, then returned the pie to the freezer.


After freezing the pie for several hours, I removed it from the freezer and let it soften for about 5-10 minutes.




The end result was a frozen, spicy, delicious pumpkin pie with a surprise layer of ginger ice cream on the bottom, a nice way to end a rather traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

Over the next few days, I will be looking forward to seeing the other pumpkin pie variations created by my fellow bloggers at YWPWT. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to choose!

Thanksgiving feast review

Before time gets away from me, I wanted to give thanks for a wonderful family Thanksgiving. I'm grateful that my little family puts up with my culinary adventures. My older daughter was spending the holiday with her in-laws in New York, so this year it was my younger daughter, me, and my mother. Today is my mother's birthday, so we had two days of celebration.

I rarely do a traditional Thanksgiving, even though I try to have turkey, in some form, as the main event.

This year I tried out a dry brine of salt, rosemary, and lemon zest, on a turkey breast half. Easy to prepare and easy to roast. I wasn't really wowed by the results, however, so next year I will search out another variation on turkey.

The side dishes were more exciting. We had caramelized butternut squash, roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and walnuts, salt & vinegar potatoes, which my daughter said were too vinegary and my mother said were just right. Oh, and I can't forget Megan's Cranberry and Orange Chutney -- my absolute favorite part of the meal.


The wine was a 2007 Petite Syrah. One of my mother's friends has a son who has a winery (Linebarier Vineyards) in the Gold Country of California. This vintage was one of his first, so we were lucky to have the opportunity to taste it and give him our feedback. The wine is fruity with a kick. Personally, I think it would benefit from aging a bit longer.



Dessert was a variation on pumpkin pie. Stay tuned -- it'll show up in a few days.

Now it's time to gear up for the next round of birthdays and holidays.

BB: Company Pot Roast

Later today we will be having our Thanksgiving feast, but for now, the treat of the day is Company Pot Roast, a dish truly acceptable for guests.

I did decide to halve the recipe and use a hefty beef chuck roast from the local grocery. While it was cooking in the oven, the house was filled with the most delicious aroma, thanks to an abundance of aromatic vegetables, some homemade chicken stock, some good quality red wine, and a dash of brandy. (It wasn't much brandy, but I'm sure it made all the difference!)

When time was up, I removed the casserole from the oven.


It was time to let the meat rest a bit and prepare the sauce.


Rather than transfer back and forth from pan to blender and back, I just used my hand-held stick blender to puree the mixture to my preferred consistency, and then add some beurre manie to slightly thicken the sauce.


The end result was tender pot roast and some fabulous sauce. There was enough left over to provide at least one more meal, and any extra sauce will be excellent over pasta.


Ina's Company Pot Roast was selected by Lisa of Lime in the Coconut, and it's one dish I highly recommend. Hop over to the Barefoot Blogger site to see more.