Just about a month ago I had to take a business trip to Atlanta (seems like a lifetime ago now, but so does Christmas for that matter). Being a bit stressed to travel before my vacation and the holidays, I decided to maximize my time and do some holiday planning on the plane ride down south. I brought along a few magazines for inspiration and guidance and found one of my new all time favorite recipes. I love to cook but have never been the baker. This year, I set out to conquer a dessert.
I found a great recipe for a delish caramel and chocolate bread pudding in the March ‘08 issue of Bon Appetit. The recipe was from Jill O’Connor’s latest cookbook “Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.” I added and can testify to the YUM!
This recipe serves 8 – 10. I almost doubled it and recommend using an even larger baking dish. It gets better the next day – you just need to reheat a touch and make some extra sauce too. Mom, here is the recipe for you and your friends.
Dulche de leche and chocolate chunk bread pudding:
8 1/2 inch thick egg bread ( I used egg rolls and just peeled off the shell. I bet Challah bread would be amazing here too)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided. (leave it out on your counter – it does the trick)
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup dulce de leche topping or caramel sauce (I got the Whole Foods caramel topping – it is made for ice cream)
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons dark rum (spiced works too)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
3 oz (about 1/2 cup) bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons sugar
powdered sugar
Preheat over to 350. Place your bread in a large bowl. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons melted butter and toss. Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake until bread is golden or about 12 mins (you can do this ahead of time). Then cool. Brush an 11×7x2 inch glass baking dish with butter.
Stir whipping cream and 1 cup dulce de leche sauce in medium saucepan over medium heat until blended and bubbling. Remove from heat. Whisk eggs and yolks in karge bowl. Add rum, vanilla and salt. Gradually whisk in warm dulce de leche mixture and then stir in the bread cubes. Let this soak for 30 mins and stir it occasonally (smell it too occasionally too – it is amazing).
Mix chocolate chips into custard mixture. Pour into your prepared (the buttered one) baking dish. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar and bake for about 35 mins (you want it puffy and set in the center). Let it cool 15 minutes and then dust with powdered sugar. Serve it warm and pass with more warm dulce de leche.
Eat just a small bit to satisfy your craving and then sit back and relish in the compliments from your soon to be a wee bit fatter, but oh so happy friends.
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Happy 2009! New Years always force people to think about and make changes in their lives. The resolutions are listed on some task list and many are recycled from year to year. This year I decided instead of the regular resolutions (get in shape, lose the extra holiday lbs, learn something new and so on. . .) I would make a list of intentions.
I think Mike did too and one of his intentions was to spend more time with his family. All of a sudden I was thinking about what I intended to do with our 12 year old nephew who he had invited to spend 24 hours with us this weekend.
12 year old girl, not a problem. I could think of a bunch of places to take her, Mia’s for a manicure, the Copley for an early introduction to Barney’s, J Crew for the after Christmas sale (she would fit into an XS) and lunch with the girls. A boy presents a different story.
Cameron arrived Friday at 4PM. Mike was not at home. . .of course he ran into traffic after leaving the recording studio. So there I was at home still in my sweaty work out gear with my nephew. The first task at hand was getting Grover to tolerate another “kid” in the house. He is quite territorial and I have to say a bit spoiled. By the time the two had bonded, Mike walked in the door and I was able to shower and get ready for dinner.
My one good idea was to take Cameron to one of our favorite restaurants Shabu Zen. It is Japanese crock pot cooking and you make/cook everything yourself at the table. It is fun and healthy. Cameron loves to cook and to eat, so he was very excited. On the table was a number of dishes with mix ins for the sauce. Everything you cook is flavored by the sauce you create – mild to extra spicy. Mike instructed Cam to taste each to see what he liked. He forgot to tell him the little green seed things were chilis. Four glasses of ice water and a banana smoothie later and he was fine. He actually loved the dining experience and ate all the shrimp and scallops. On the way hme we stopped at the Bleacher Bar to show him one of Mike’s projects and an inside view of Fenway Park.
We got home around 8ish and decide to watch a movie. I had been dying to see WALL*E and thought having a real live kid in the house was the perfect occasion. Okay 12 year olds talk and I mean – a lot, any subject and they know it all and have all the answers. I was on the couch in the middle of Mike (now snoring to beat the band), Grover who had wedged himself between me and Cam and Cam who was providing play-by-play commentary punctuated by the non-stop “. . . but Aunt Christine, robots can’t fall in love, they are not programmed that way. They do not have any feelings.” I am a still a sucker for a good romantic comedy and finally made everyone go to bed only so we could wake up the next morning to watch the end.
I woke up to the sound and smell of breakfast. Mike and Cam were in the kitchen making us buttermilk pancakes. We ate and then watched the end of the movie. We had to explain to Cam that the Japanese had made a robot that does have human emotions. Logic is the only way to reason with a 12 year old. He listened and I enjoyed the rest of the movie in peace.
Next on our agenda was bowling. We walked to Kings and were the first ones there. Cam threw a strike on his first ball! The rest did not go so great but he tried. Mike and I were a bit rusty but we managed to have a blast. I bowled a 103 my second string and was the winner so I really had a blast.
We walked back home after bowling and ate lunch at another one of our local and highly frequented spots Sonsie . 12 year olds are not impressed by the number of people you know or by the fact that a drink is named after their almost famous Aunt. Mike and Cam spent the rest of the afternoon on his computer playing Mike’s favorite new game Spore. I tried to create a creature but was told my Greckazoid although very cute, would never survive in early life. I replied he could charm his way out of situations and it was better to be a lover than a fighter and then seized the opportunity to take a nap.
We really had a great time with Cam but the 24 hours passed very quickly and it was time to take him home. I think he was the most sad about leaving Spore. If he wasn’t playing it, he was talking about the game. Continuously. Again, we had to use logic and tell him that it was always better to listen than to be a talker. You could almost see the wheels turning in his brain as he tried to figure that one out.
Finally we explained to our 12 year old guest, the more he listened, the more he would learn.
