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bread pudding with amaretto cream

April 26, 2011Andrea

Charlottesville is beautiful this time of year...lush new grass, lacy clouds of dogwood blossoms, confetti-hued azalea bushes. But my heart, it lies in another city at the end of April. Far, far south of here, where the air is heavy with music and the scent of chicory. Five years ago this Thursday, Brian and I were married against a cracked brick wall in a classic New Orleans courtyard on the most beautiful day of our lives thus far. With 35 of our closest friends and family we paraded through the French Quarter, led by a jazz quartet we'd met on Royal Street during our very first visit to the Big Easy. I walked down the aisle to "It's a Wonderful World", we said our vows with our two best friends by our sides, we danced with those we love most, we ate incredible food for hours. What a day...and so hard to believe it was five years ago now.

Yes, this time of year has me longing for New Orleans. We were married in the midst of crawfish season, and luckily for us, we have a local market that brings crawfish into Charlottesville at exactly this time of year, just for our anniversary. Well, maybe not just for us, but the timing sure does work out well. On Friday, Brian brought home with him 1 dozen oysters, 4 pounds of crawfish, and 6 blue crabs. A flash decision was made and I found myself scrambling to make a bread pudding, the perfect ending to the NOLA Seafood Boil suddenly placed on our Friday night agenda. That dinner with dear friends was the next best thing to being in our favorite city, and another evening I won't soon forget.

Bread pudding is a classic New Orleans dessert. It is one that, when we first visited the city, I was entirely unconvinced of. I've come to my senses in the last few years, and might have recently declared bread pudding one of my favorite sweets. I won't deny that. This particular recipe was a new one for me, pulled from Chef Paul Prudhomme's classic cookbook, which hasn't led us astray yet. Chef Paul is a bit of a culinary god in our house...the man did invent the blackening method after all. I expected him to pull through for me again here, and we were not disappointed. This is a traditional bread pudding, made with stale bread and sweet custard and pecans and raisins, topped with Chef Prudhomme's fabulous Chantilly Cream. Because I wasn't expecting to make bread pudding (or any baked good at all, actually) last Friday afternoon, I found myself lacking in some ingredients. But even with a bit of tweaking it was a big hit, and I think the changes made might be permanent.

Bread pudding is best while still warm, but also makes for a really, really good cold breakfast. Trust me...it will sing with your coffee.

Bread Pudding with Amaretto Cream
from Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen, with minor modification
serves 8
Ingredients
3 large eggs
1-1/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I substituted almond)
1-1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups milk
1/2 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans, dry roasted (I've also used walnuts, and think that almonds would be quite good, too)
5 cups very stale French or Italian bread cubes, with crusts on
Amaretto Cream (recipe below)
Method
In a large bowl, beat the eggs on high speed until extremely frothy and bubbles are the size of pinheads, about 3 minutes (or with a metal whisk for about 6 minutes). Add the sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, and butter and beat on high until well blended. Beat in the milk.
Butter (8) small ramekins, (1) 9x5 loaf pan, or (1) 9" square glass dish. (Truly, any of these works.) Place a layer of bread cubes in the greased pan(s). Sprinkle with the golden raisins and nuts and layer bread cubes over top to fill pan.
Pour the egg mixture over top of the bread cubes and toss (or gently press the cubes down into the liquid so that all are coated, but not covered). Let sit for about 45 minutes, pushing the bread down into the liquid occasionally. Preheat oven to 350°.
Place the pan(s) in the preheated oven and immediately drop the temperature down to 300°. Bake for 40 minutes, until top is just starting to golden. (If you use small ramekins, bake for just 25-30 minutes). Increase the oven temperature to 425° and bake until pudding is well browned and puffy, about 15 to 20 minutes more.
Serve with Amaretto Cream.
Amaretto Cream
modified from Chef Prudhomme's Chantilly Cream (which is really, really delicious...I just didn't have the right liqueur.)
Ingredients
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp amaretto
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp dairy sour cream
Method
Refrigerate a medium-size bowl and beaters until very cold. Combine the cream and Amaretto in the bowl and beat with a handheld mixer on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the sugar and sour cream and beat on medium just until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes. Do not overbeat!
Try not to eat the entire bowl. But if you do, I understand completely.

categories baking, dessert
tags amaretto, anniversary, bread pudding, golden raisins, new orleans, whipped cream

no better cure

July 10, 2009Andrea

You may have noticed that I’ve had quite a few baked goods featured here lately. Bella Eats is starting to look more like a baking blog than an all foods blog, which is not my intention even though I do have a not-so-secret desire to be a baker. The truth is, when I am stressed, overwhelmed or even underwhelmed with life in general, or just want an excuse to be lost in my head for an hour or two, I bake. Some people go for a run, others practice yoga, I pull out the flour and sugar and butter and get to work mixing and shaping. drops

Maybe its because I am training to be an architect, spending my days working on minute details for buildings that won’t break ground for another six months and won’t be complete for another two years. It takes a lot of time, and a lot of patience, to get to the point in a project where you feel the satisfaction of seeing the results of your hard work. The days can be frustrating, the hours long, and at the end of it all you may not even be happy with the final result. But you continue forward, filing away the lessons learned on one project for a similar situation on the next, always striving for the perfect design against the odds of disagreeable clients and undesirable sites. drops merge 2

There are a lot of similarities between baking and architecture - formula, precision, a bit of risk taking, structure - but one very notable difference is timing. I can enter the kitchen, experiment with a new recipe that I’ve been dreaming about and have results in 1-2 hours. And if the final product doesn’t come out exactly as I had imagined, I can try again the next evening. Or immediately even, if the desire to get it right then and there is strong enough. That [nearly] instant gratification is what I love most about baking. The reactions from friends presented with something you’ve made from scratch help as well - who isn’t happy to be surprised with a plateful of baked goods? drops merge 1

There are nights when I get home from the office needing to bake. Not just wanting to, but needing to. Sometimes I’ll pick a recipe that is tried and true, other times I’ll try drastic experiments that go horribly wrong but always teach me something new. Last week I was looking for a recipe somewhere in the middle - a recipe that someone else had tried and recommended, that I could play with and put my own twist on. Luckily I had recently discovered Sweet Amandine and spent most of Sunday reading through her archives, soaking in her lovely writing and photographs. I found these chocolate hazelnut bites, put my own little spin on them and got to work. drops 7

There are a lack of preparatory photographs in this post because baking these cookies on that particular night was purely for my mental well-being. I was tired, a little bit frazzled and a lot in need of the dark chocolatey, almondy, slightly salty goodness that these three-bite cookies delivered to my mouth. The process to make them was really quite simple - melt chocolate, amaretto and butter in one pan while whipping together the egg and sugar in another. You combine the two, fold in some finely processed toasted almonds and then chill the batter for 1-2 hours. If you have the patience, shoot for two hours of chilling. I couldn't stand it and pulled them after just one so that I could get to work on the methodical task of rolling each lump of dough between my palms and coating each ball with granular sugar and then powdered. They bake for a quick 10-12 minutes and then you are free to pile them onto a plate, grab a glass of wine and cuddle up to your partner on the couch. There's no better cure for a long day, I promise. Also, if you are in need of some cheer the next evening as well, they are great crumbled over vanilla ice cream. Dark Chocolate Almond Bites adapted from Sweet Amandine who adapted from Chez Pim who adapted from David Lebovitz's Room for Dessert - goodness, this cookie's been around! makes 3-4 dozen 3-bite cookies Ingredients:

8 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao)
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp amaretto
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3-4 pinches sea salt

*1 cup each of granulated sugar and powdered sugar, in separate bowls, for rolling dough balls in Method:

Preheat the oven to 350*.
Spread the almonds onto a baking sheet and toast for 8-10 minutes, until fragrant. Do not burn. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
Meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt it in a double boiler with butter and amaretto until smooth.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip together the eggs and 1/3 cup sugar on high speed until pale, as pictured above (5-8 minutes). Stir in the melted chocolate mixture.
Pour the cooled nuts and flour into a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Add the baking powder and the salt, and pulse a few more times. Stir the ground nut mixture into the chocolate batter.
Chill for 1-2 hours, preferably 2, until batter is firm.
When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350 again and set up your bowls of granulated sugar and powdered sugar. Roll the chocolate cookie batter into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball first in granulated sugar and then in powdered sugar. Set the cookies in rows, at least 1-inch apart, on two parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, swapping the top and bottom baking sheets about halfway through. The cookies should be slightly firm around the edges, but otherwise soft.
Cool on a rack completely, then store in an airtight container.

Oh! And if you haven't noticed, I've added helpful links to the right side of the page for you to subscribe to Bella Eats, or follow me on Twitter, if you desire.

categories baking, cookies
tags almond, amaretto, chocolate, cookies, simple

some of the best i've had

June 05, 2009Andrea

My momma has been telling me about these cookies for months now. She makes them for my stepfather, Joe, because he is a BIG fan of amaretto. We’re talking about the kind of fan that, when handed a small glass containing the thick amber liquid, will take 20 full minutes to take a sip because each time he brings it to his mouth he is overwhelmed by the intoxicating smell. He’s Italian, so we’re all convinced he’s got a bit of amaretto coursing through his veins. amaretto cookies mrge 1

The cookies have been in my “to make” folder ever since their name rolled off of my momma’s tongue. Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches with Amaretto Frosting. Come on...who wouldn’t add them to their list? Sadly, my folder (titled “Andrea Miscellaneous” and added to by Brian whenever he finds my printed recipes or articles torn from various magazines strewn around our house, which is often) is over-stuffed with delectable-sounding treats awaiting attention, and this recipe somehow got shuffled to the bottom. I’m lucky that it made the menu cut for our Florida visit last weekend, otherwise it may have been another few months before I tasted the gems, declared love, and shared them with you. amaretto cookies 1

Even if you ignore the frosting (and the only reason you should is if you’re not a fan of very sweet treats...) the cookies themselves are some of the best I’ve had. Delicately flavored with ground oatmeal, almond extract and chopped almonds, they have an extra depth that standard chocolate chip cookies lack. They are slightly crisp around the edges and still chewy in the middle, perfect CCC texture. Watch them closely as they bake, you want to pull them just as they start to very slightly brown at the edges. amaretto cookies 2

I hope you’ll learn from my mistake, keep this recipe at the top of your list, make the cookies as soon as possible and share them with family and friends. Your loved ones will thank you, I promise. And be sure to go through your recipe folders, as I will be this weekend, to see if you have any other recipes tucked away that have been recommended by your momma. Because those recipes shouldn't be shuffled to the bottom. Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe modified from Giada De Laurentiis via foodnetwork.com makes 4 dozen cookies or 2 dozen cookie sandwiches

1/2 cup rolled oats
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
3/4 tsp pure almond extract
1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup whole almonds, toasted and chopped

Method:

Preheat oven to 325*. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Finely chop oats in a food processor (we used a small chopper), mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer (we used a stand mixer) beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and beat in the eggs and extract.
Add the flour mixture in 3 batches and mix until just blended.
Gently fold in the chocolate chips and almonds.
Drop dough (about one rounded tablespoon each) onto cookie sheet, two inches apart. Do not flatten.
Bake until cookies are golden, about 13 minutes.
Cool the cookies on sheets for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire cooling rack.

Amaretto Frosting recipe modified from Gale Gand via foodnetwork.com makes enough for 2 dozen sandwich cookies

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 tbsp amaretto liqueur