TWD: apple apple bread pudding

For this week's assignment, Elizabeth of Cake or Death? (who i adore by the way) chose the Apple-Apple Bread pudding from pages 408-409 of BFMHTY.

I also adore bread pudding!  I wasn't a huge fan as a child, but I always remember my dearest mommy getting it at restaurants and talking about it.  The first recipe that I ever formulated myself was my eggnog bread pudding which I always love during the holidays, despite the fact that I don't like eggnog!  There is just something comforting about it.  Not too sweet, warms you from the inside...I often eat it for breakfast when I have some sitting in the house (I mean, it's basically the same as baked french toast!) 

I was super excited about baking this recipe.  Also, b/c I have had 5 lonely little granny smith apples hanging out in my crisper for way to long.  I finally got to use them up!

This recipe is fairly involved...toasting, "apple-buttering" and slicing the bread; caramelizing the butter and sugar and cooking the apples; boiling the milk and cream and seperating the eggs (thankfully i had a bunch of yolks in the fridge from a recent white cake).  It just takes time and dishes, but oh is it worth it!  I burnt my first bit of sugar b/c I hadn't finished chopping the apples and was trying to add and chop, but thankfully I still had the time and ingredients to try that again (only used a tiny bit of apple to see if it was ruined).  Everything else came together pretty easily. 

The best part of the night is that my mommy came to visit me!  We had such a special time together.  While I was finishing up the pudding she came and sat on the stool in my kitchen, and ate one of my leftover tres leches cupcakes.  It's funny b/c it was like when I was a kid sitting on the stool in her kitchen while she was cooking :)  Then we watched the Duggars  (my parents remind me so much of Jim Bob and Michelle) while waiting for it to bake and had a wonderful time talking and laughing and looking at things on Etsy.  When it was time for her to leave I loaded her up with cupcakes, a fourth of the bread pudding, and cookie dough to feed my brother and sister who have recently moved back in after college.  I like to take care of her after all the years of her taking care of me :)

After she left I broke my "no eating after 8 pm" rule and had a little ramekin full of the bread pudding...and then another...it is so delicious!  I am debating on taking it to work or saving the rest for myself this weekend...I think the pudding will be a nice soft treat/breakfast after I get one of my wisdom teeth pulled on Thursday...so I guess it's staying here.  sorry guys!

Thanks so much to Elizabeth for picking this fabulous recipe, and check out the TWD leave-your-link post to see who baked along this week!

some favorite recipes

Here are some of my go-to recipes that I have not yet posted on:

Hash Brown Casserole
adapted from Taste of the South magazine

1 bag southern style hash brown potatoes, thawed
1 stick melted butter
1 tub sour cream (i think 16 oz?)
1/2 block velveta cheese, cubed
approx 1 cup fiesta blend shredded cheese (i just grab a big handful and throw it in)
1 can cream of chicken soup
dash pepper
approx one sleeve ritz cracker crumbs, crushed.

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients but cracker crumbs in a large bowl until combined.

Spread into one greased 9x13" baking dish, or 2 8x8" baking dishes.

Sprinkle the top evenly with cracker crumbs (you can mix them or top them w/extra butter if you want. Bake for 45 min-1 hour or until bubbly and smelling good!



Don't forget to let your pup lick the bowl (this is the most important part of the recipe, it makes sure that the extra love gets in)

This is one of my most requested pot luck recipes. I found it and made it a few years ago for my Bible study girls while they were still in college and it became an instant favorite. It is super easy and you can make it in advance. There is absolutely NO nutritional value or culinary prowess required. It's just good plain comfort food. It's also good for breakfast, can be made into a yummy cheesy potato soup when pureed with milk (using your fancy immersion blender that you got for Christmas last year) and heated over the stove, and it helps make you fatter! (exactly what we're all looking for right?) But seriously, my proudest moment with this casserole was when I took it to hubs' grandmother's little country church potluck, and this was the only dish that was completely! (and you know those old country ladies are good cooks!)

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Yellow Squash Muffins

2 cups cooked pureed yellow squash
2 eggs
1 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Combine squash w/eggs and butter.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of dry mixture, add squash mixture to dry ingredients, stirring only until moist.

Spoon into greased muffin tins filling 3/4 full.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Doggies like this batter too...

I found this recipe somewhere online after receiving a massive amount of summer squash and being unable to eat it all myself (i am just one person!). I knew that there just had to be some kind of bread or muffin recipe using squash, and found a great one on my first try! Of course, the orginal recipe was a "healthier" version which involved applesauce and maybe oil...I made it unhealthy, but oh well. These have been a hit wherever I have taken them--even with people who hate squash! They really taste like a corn muffin, just without a cornmeal texture. Very very good for breakfast or with dinner! (sadly, hubs still won't try them....)

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Eggnog bread pudding

1/2 loaf day old sourdough bread, cubed (could also use brioche or any sweet-ish bread)
2 tbsp. melted butter
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups prepared eggnog from grocery
1/2 cup packed brown sugar.
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
(can include a splash of rum)

grease 8x8" pan
layer pecans and bread cubes
mix remaining ingredients, pour over bread cubes and press down so that the tops of the bread are covered by the wet mixture.
allow to rest in refridgerator for at least 1 hour (best overnight)
bake for 45 minutes at 350 F.

This is the first recipe that I ever came up with myself, and also the first dessert that I made COMPLETELY from scratch, in that I used my homemade sourdough bread for this. I love to pour some extra eggnog over the top of it as a sauce--especially for breakfast! I honestly do not like eggnog to drink, but I really enjoy this. As I've gotten more accustomed to baking I play around more with the spices in this (i now have more spices than "pumpkin pie" and cinnamon!) but this is my base recipe. It would be good with a hard sauce or something like that too.

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Pumpkin Roll
original from Two Peas and Their Pod

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1 tsp lemon juice
¾ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp salt

Filling
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
4 T butter
½ tsp vanilla

Beat eggs and sugar together. Add pumpkin and lemon juice and mix together. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Fold into pumpkin mixture.

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Spray with cooking spray. Spread pumpkin mixture evenly in pan. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes. Turn out immediately onto a clean dishtowel that has been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Remove the parchment paper. Sprinkle more powdered sugar on top of cake. Start at one end, carefully rolling towel and cake together. Cool on countertop or in fridge.

Combine 1 cup powdered sugar, cream cheese, and butter, and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Gently unroll cake, remove the towel. Spread filling evenly over cake. Roll back up! Cover with foil and put in fridge or freezer. Best when made a day ahead.

**Okay...I'm cheating a little here b/c this is not the exact recipe that I make. This is the base recipe that I have adapted, but I have to keep some of my adaptations a secret on this one b/c I get the most orders for it. The filling is exactly how I make it though. This is amazing for dessert, or can even be eaten for breakfast!**

dessert table at one of my open house events

Well, these are some of my favorites and are all really easy--I hope you try and enjoy them!

TWD remixed: Allspice Crumb muffin pudding

After a week in which I baked full recipes of both the TWD allspice muffins & the MSC pumpkin patch cupcakes, I was up to my ears is spiced goodies! This is not a good thing for a lady who is trying to make better choices with my eating habits. I gave away a LOT of the cupcakes, but there were still 4 lonely allspice muffins that had gone kinda stale.

As I have mentioned before, I HATE waste, so just tossing the muffins in the trash was not an option for me. I was lying in bed this morning at the very early time of 8:30 (for me, on a saturday morning, that is VERY early) pondering the muffins. And then it hit me--use them in a bread pudding!!

I adore bread puddings and have a go-to holiday recipe for eggnog bread pudding that I created using my homemade sourdough bread (I will share that later this season). It is oh-so-yummy, and I remembered what a wonderful breakfast it makes on cold mornings! Well, it's 40 degrees outside, and 60 in my house b/c we have not turned on the heat, so I popped out of bed to make a muffin pudding!

a steaming bowl of comfort pudding :)

It came out of the oven warm and bubbly and crisp on top and I must admit that I had seconds!

And here is the (kinda) recipe, I kinda just threw it together, so I'm approximating:

4 muffins (a few days old) from Dorie's Allspice Crumb Muffin recipe (found here) cut into cubes
(I realize that this is not a real "ingredient" for people to have on hand so you could really substitute any kind of stale cinnamon swirl bread, brioche, whatever. Just add some allspice to get the full effect)
approx. 1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.


Butter a 1 quart baking dish and fill with muffin cubes and walnuts.

Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over the bread/nut mixture. Lightly press down the bread cubes with the back of a spoon to make sure that all the bread is covered with the liquid mixture. Leave on the counter for 30 minutes to allow bread to soak up liquid.

Preheat oven to 350', then bake the pudding for 1 hour.

I think it's yummiest right out of the oven!



And for your viewing enjoyment, here is a cold weather bulldog:

sporting the colors of her favorite team: UK