Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding.

So, at The Scoop we offer these delicious cinnamon rolls from AmyCakes.  They are truly fantastic, but sometimes, we don’t sell them all each day.  Which makes me sad, because it means someone out there didn’t get to benefit from the awesomeness of AmyCakes, but it also makes me a LEETLE happy because…well…the Hubs & I totally take home the ones that are past “sell by” date. 

A lot of the time, we nom on them as our breakfast at home, or occasionally, if my coworkers are lucky, I’ll bring a couple into the office for them to fight over.

And then, just recently, we finally saved up a stockpile of six by freezing them…just so I could try out this recipe.

Now…I’ll be honest.  It’s next to impossible to improve upon AmyCakes.  Her cakes & pastries are truly phenomenal and she’s won Best Cinnamon Rolls in 417-Land. But, we’ve been regularly (a couple times a week) eating these cinnamon rolls for the last 4 months now, and sometimes you just need something a wee bit different. 

When I worked at Martin’s in New Orleans, we sold fresh Wild Flour Bakery (from Chef Susan Spicer) bread daily.  It had no preservatives, so it only had a shelf life of a couple days before we had to pull it from sale.  In the Gourmet Foods department (where I worked), we would slice & toast the past-sale baguettes to sample out with our Cheese of the Day, or cube larger loaves, toss with olive oil, cheese, and spices to make freshly toasted croutons (*drools*). And our chefs would regularly repurpose the other unsold loaves into bread pudding. (There was a chocolate cherry bread that lent itself to this VERY nicely—I still have dreams about that treat).  So I figured—why not try the same idea with cinnamon rolls?

My stockpile of deliciousity.

INGREDIENTS:

6 cinnamon rolls

6 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups skim milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Optional: sugar (I didn’t add any because Amy’s cinnamon rolls are well-iced. But if you’re using un-iced rolls, you’ll probably want to add a little.)

For Icing:  1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1-2 tbsp water (go by consistency, not measurements)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 F, then lightly grease a 9x13 pan with butter or non-stick spray.

Cube up your cinnamon rolls & spread them evenly in the pan.

Combine the remaining ingredients (except those noted for icing) in a large bowl and whisk well.  Then pour evenly over the cinnamon roll cubes.

Let the pan set on the counter for about 20 minutes to allow the wet ingredients to soak into the bread.  Then bake for 50-55 minutes, or until golden and fully cooked (check with toothpick).  Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes.

Place the powdered sugar to a small bowl & add a small amount of warm water,then whisk.  Continue to add water until the mixture has the consistency of school glue.  Then use the whisk to drizzle the icing over the top of the bread pudding.

Serve warm. Makes about 6-8 generous helpings.

This treat is so decadent we might have to consider selling them at the shoppe!!!  They still retain all the delicious flavor of the cinnamon rolls, but now have a rich, moist center.  BONUS:  This makes a great breakfast OR dessert.  Or both.  I mean…can you think of a better way to begin AND end your day?

 

(No NutriFacts since I don’t know the information for Amy’s cinnamon rolls.)

Overnight Stuffed French Toast, of the Blackberry Variety.

Back in July, my mom hooked me up with a flat of blackberries.  We froze about half of those, so we’ve got a nice stockpile in the freezer still.  So when I saw a recipe on Pinterest for Overnight French Toast….yeahhhh….the pic might SHOW blueberries, but I had blackberries on the brain.  Nothing against blueberries, mind you.  But I don’t have a stockpile of fresh-frozen BLUEberries, now do I?  But seriously---this would be awesome with whatever berries you have on hand: strawberries, cherries, raspberries…heck, I think you could even attempt this with gooseberries, though you might want to add some extra sugar in that situation.

This recipe was nicely simple.  Just perfect for a weekend.  I prepped everything up on Friday night, woke up after a nice sleep-in, popped it in the oven, had my morning coffee, read for a bit, played around on Facebook, and then by the time the Hubs roused himself, breakfast was ready!

Oh…and it was DEELISHUSSSS.

Ingredients:

12 slices French bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 (8 ounce) package fat free cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup fresh blackberries
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg  
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
1 cup fresh blackberries
1 tablespoon light butter

Directions:

Lightly coat a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and then place half of the bread cubes into the pan.  Place half the blackberries on top of that, then add the cream cheese cubes.  Cover that with the remaining bread and berries.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the spices, milk, vanilla, and syrup.  Pour over the pan evenly, cover, and place in the fridge until the morning.

 

The next morning, heat your oven to 350F, remove the pan from the fridge and let it sit for a bit (20-30 minutes) to come closer to room temp.  Then place in the oven for 30 minutes while covered with foil.  After 30 minutes, remove the foil and let finish cooking until the center is firm and the top is lightly browned.

While that’s cooking, we need to make a sauce for the top.  So in a small sauce pan, mix the sugar, cornstarch, and water and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, cook 3 to 4 minutes. Mix in the remaining 1 cup blackberries.  Then reduce heat and simmer  for about 10 minutes or until the berries burst.

Stir in the butter, and pour over the baked French toast.

Serve warm and dig in!

 

Makes 12 servings.

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 249.0

  Total Fat 4.0 g

  Saturated Fat 1.1 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.5 g

  Cholesterol 96.7 mg

  Sodium 386.2 mg

  Potassium 207.8 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 42.5 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.2 g

  Sugars 22.2 g

  Protein 10.3 g

Peach Bread Pudding.

I did it.  I finally did it.  I made a bread pudding!

But of course, because I’m ME, I couldn’t make a normal, plain-jane bread pudding.  Oh no.  That just wouldn’t be kosher.  (Not that anything’s kosher around this blog…I mean…have you SEEN the amount of bacon & bacon grease we have around here?)

We were having a potluck in honor of our company owner’s birthday this past week so I decided it was time. 

I should point out that I’m quite finnicky about bread pudding.  To enjoy it:

1. It must be served warm, through & through.  Cold bread pudding is disgusting, and I’ve come across FAR too many NOLA establishments that think it’s perfectly acceptable to serve cold bread pudding. *gags*

2. The sauce must also be warm, and not too boozy.  I’m eating dessert, not having a cocktail.

3. The predominant flavor should be cinnamon.  Not rum.

So when I stumbled upon a recipe for peach bread pudding, I thought—this is the dessert for me.  Peach cobbler is one of my favorites, and how seamlessly it should combine with a bread pudding!

I was SO right.

Ingredients:

4-6 cups bread, cubed into small pieces (about one average sized loaf)

1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk

3 large eggs

2.5 cups canned or fresh peaches (I used frozen unsweetened & they worked perfectly)

1/2 cup peach juice (if you use frozen, just defrost them in the microwave & it should produce a good amount of juice

1.25 c hot water

4 tbsp light butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Sauce:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup (NOTE: if you don’t have corn syrup, no problem!  Combine 2 tbsp of white sugar + 2 tsp warm water and stir.  Microwave for 20 seconds & crystals should mostly dissolve.  Then add to the pan.)

1 tbsp rum OR 2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Grease an 11x7 baking dish.

Cube up your bread.

In a separate large bowl, combine peaches, condensed milk, eggs (lightly beaten), hot water, butter, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg & stir well.

(Recipes on Nooks are mighty handy.)

Add your bread & stir until bread is moistened.

Transfer into your baking dish.

Note: You can also make little individual bread puddings in rammekins, like I did, so that my husband & I could taste test the dish without destroying the pan I was taking to the potluck.

Place in the middle of the oven & bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pudding comes out clean.

In the last 10-20 minutes of your baking process, make the sauce for your pudding.

Combine the sauce ingredients over medium heat, bring to a boil, & let simmer for 3-4 minutes or until it starts to thicken.  It will thicken more as it cools.

Serve the bread pudding warm, with warm sauce.

I, my husband, and my coworkers absolutely fell in love with this dish.  I’m DEFINITELY making it again!

 

NutriFacts: (makes 16 servings)

Calories 234.0

  Total Fat 3.5 g

  Saturated Fat 1.0 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 1.1 g

  Cholesterol 37.8 mg

  Sodium 86.4 mg

  Potassium 89.4 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 47.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.3 g

  Sugars 26.2 g

  Protein 6.2 g

Happy Mardi Gras, Y’all!!!

And how do we celebrate Mardi Gras in the blogosphere?

Well, first, I hand you a virtual drive-thru daiquiri (because yes, they’re open this early):

 

…because you’re going to need to take it with you to the parade!

(Clicky-clicky below for LIVE FEED of the parades!)

http://www.experiencemardigras.com/ 

http://livewire.wdsu.com/Event/Live_Wire_Mardi_Gras_On_WDSU

 

After that, you’ll want some king cake, right?  Where do your loyalties lie?  With Haydel’s?

Or Gambino’s?

Or maybe Meche’s, if you’re near Lafayette?

Me, I’m partial to Southside Bakery in Lafayette:

 

What’s your favorite type of king cake?  So many of them are just jammed full of cream cheese…and while I like a LEETLE cream cheese, I prefer the fruit fillings—cherry being my fave.  However, I’m also a sucker for a good slice of traditional cinnamon & pecan.

 

Alas, I have never been brave enough to attempt my own king cake, but someday…someday.  (I’d say, “later this week”, but it’s a crazy week around the FeauxCajun household.  I’ve got a two day out-of-town work conference, and a pirate-themed murder mystery party later this week, for which my husband & I still need to make our costumes. SO EXCITED!)

However, if you’re looking for a fun recipe, I recently came across this recipe for a King Cake Bread Pudding with Whisky Sauce on the Raised On A Roux blog, and I am ITCHING to try it.  Because it combines two of my favorite things—king cake, and bread pudding!  So if you’ve got a random king cake on hand & want to try something new & fun with it, give that recipe a whirl & let me know how it comes out!

(I’d try it myself, but I found it after I’d already made my New Year’s Resolution of “no new recipes”.  Sad face.)