Bread pudding FAIL... Chicken WIN!

So I was feeling like something sweet yesterday and nothing hits the spot like a nice warm bread pudding covered with cream. Started to put it together. I always have all the ingredients. Saved bread crusts...Doug doesn't eat them and my hair is curly enough, eggs...never without those it seems, brown sugar...pail was full! Vanilla...yep, I still have a good litre from the last time I was in Mexico about 10 years ago. A little salt..wait? What is this? No milk? The cream is sour? But I must eat bread pudding! I desire, no, I crave it!

What to do, what to do? Aha! Powdered milk! I always have that and it is almost indistinguishable in bread pudding!

Except when it is rancid.

I took the the whole repulsive mess out to the birds tonight and I was not disappointed. They practically tripped me and mobbed the falling bowl! I have never seen such grateful birds. Makes me think I should cook for them more often!

I mourn your failed bread pudding. But I do like happy chickens!

There seems to be something amiss in the dairy department!

Here we are sitting in the middle of the country. You think that dairy would not be hard to find.  Yesterday after my pudding fail I went shopping.  Warburg store had only giant 4L whole milk and the gas station had tiny plastic containers of 2% milk to go.  

Yes, something is indeed amiss.

I got to have bread pudding now too. Please put your recipe in the recipe post place? again I wish to have a begging emoticon. bread pudding sounds just amazing to me right now. I have resolved to make baked custard/creme caramel very soon cause too many eggs in frig. and I love creme caramel but have not made bread pudding so would love to make that first.

ya! isn't it somehow gratifying to be mobbed by chickens who love not you but what you carry. I have one Rita Hayworth who expects a handful of wheat to be put especially for her on the roost every time I go into the coop but what they go nuts for is things like porridge with meat scraps and fat mixed in - chicken mobbing, too funny.

I retrieved the bowl today and it was clean. And by clean I mean I could have put the bowl back in the cupboard...but I didn't   

Recipe? Oh oh! Um....

Two eggs for every cup of milk. Some melted butter, a little vanilla, some salt and some cinnamon. Throw in a handful or so of brown sugar depending on how sweet you like it. Mix that mess up. Grease a casserole and throw in some old torn apart bread and some dried fruit. Pour in the liquid. You should have enough to cover the bread. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or so. The top should spring back.

Sorry, this is the way I cook.

thanks Sue, that sounds lovely and it is often how I cook too so I should be able to make it work - if at first I don't succeed, try and try again. my pancake mix is never the same and sometimes it is nice and sometimes it is kaka!

sounds like your chooks did a great job on taking care of business - clean dish and all   .

I felt I must report back on the bread pudding adventure. I used your ingredients, about 10 slices of bread (buttered both sides - no one say heart disease ok), 8 eggs (because I must use up the eggsess in the frig   ), cup of cream, 2 cups of milk, vanilla, pinch salt, cinnamon and nutmeg . . . oh, one and half cup sugar with half cup to sprinkle over the top. no raisins cause no one else will eat them like this. Blimey if that wasn't quite the treat! but I'm the only one in to it so I won't be making it again in a hurry cause I am not digging trenches or house foundations by hand and not enough snow for too much shoveling right now. That is major fuel. A bit too sweet actually, would cut back by maybe half to three quarters of a cup sugar but make sure to have the sprinkle on top part cause that was crunchy and caramelised and the bottom part was lovely caramel flavored baked custard which has such nostalgia for me I just love that!

  Woo Hoo!   

Finally...bread pudding WIN!

Are you going to give your chickens just a little?

oh heck Sue, it is soooo good! might have to give them some, if I do that then I will have room in the fridge to stash a baked custard   . use up some more eggs. I love baked custard with the caramel sugar base. So many eggs right now, got to do something with them - give it a couple days though, don't want to be sick. there are only so many quiche dinners I can serve up to the fambles before they stand back and say they've had enough and do this with their hands on hips:  . I've gotten really good at poaching eggs, my kids fry 'em like no tomorrow but I prefer poached for some reason. Just used up three dozen making banana bread to dehydrate, might freeze some.

Well, guess the answer is yes, I will let them have the last of it. win for the chickens win for me all round (all round my belly too :-). I ate 3/4 of the whole thing in 24 hrs! what a   .

Good woman! Have you considered FrenchToast to use up eggs? Right now I am thinking....French toast made of banana bread! Hmmm!

Anyway, I will leave you with two words....

Creme Brûlée

creme brulee.  sounds wicked good.  hmmm.  how many eggs can I squeeze in to that one?  have you made them yourself?   I believe you need something to brown the top of those little cutie deserts and I must say, my own flame thrower has a certain appeal   .  will google later.

we have eaten a lot of french toast and still love it. but my boys don't like going to school smelling like fried food anymore so it has been sidelined for now. I just remembered that really good crepes need loooots of eggs. always fancied one of those cool crepe making things - in NZ we had a farmers market and there was always a vendor there with that equipment - must have made hundreds of dollars every weekend from it, the line was always at least 20 people long when I thought about getting one. I looked up the cost of one of those crepe making things and not cheap, unless you intend to make it work for its keep. There's an idea for the summer :-).

heck, french toast made from banana bread - mmm.

I like to make a double batch of Crepes on the weekend, pile them on a plate, and keep them in the fridge. In the morning I smear a spoonful of preserves on them, roll them up and pop them in the microwave for an easy breakfast. All 4 food groups represented- protein, milk, carbs and fruit. If you want them for dinner with a nice filling, remove the sugar and vanilla- two unnecessary ingredients.

Crepes

In your blender/food processer put:

4 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups skim milk
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar

Blend well, spoon 1/2 cup into a fairly hot pan ( my stove is a little cooler and I use the setting 5 out of a max of 10), and cook for 3 minutes a side. I put a little oil in the cast iron pan for the first one but after the first one, which never cooks well anyway, I don't need any more oil.

Yorkshire pudding

Recipe: for 12 yorkshires


1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt

oil to grease muffin pan


Preheat oven 475 degrees.

add about a half to full teaspoon of cooking oil to each muffin space in the pan.
Heat the pan with oil in it in the oven for a few minutes.
Have the mixture standing by for when the oil is nice and warm to pour into the muffin spaces.
Almost like making homemade french fries the oil has to be warm to hot, not smokey!

(Beat eggs , mix in milk then flour then salt in a bowl.)
Carefully pour about 2 tablespoons of mixture into heated oil
in each muffin space , place back in oven to cook.


Cook 20 minutes.

cool slightly before drowning in gravy and eating !

Yum!

oh my goodness.  I'm going to have to try these new recipes out!  I'm standing at the stove with computer on kitchen bench so I don't burn the fudge I'm making (late gift for neighbors who got neglected this Christmas yet managed to remember us   ).  As I suspected earlier, you have many talents and obviously cooking is one of them.

well I messed the fudge up. have to let it cool and add some cold water, recook and she'll be right. Wanted to say thank you Sue for putting those recipes up. I look forward to trying them out. have never contemplated yourkshire pudding before, they sound like fun.

Gawsh....  

Are there eggs in fudge?   

ha ha.  nope, not a single egg in fudge   .  it's really good fudge though, Russian Fudge.   It did this thing where the sugar wouldn't dissolve (I put everything in the pot all at once cause sloppy about following recipe) so have to let it cool, add some cold water and recook to point of set.  Had to do this recently and it worked really really well  -  I had thought we'd wasted the batch but happy day, worked.  I actually feel sick at the idea of eating any though.  Too much sweet stuff   .  

Russian Fudge
(I double this recipe)

3 C sugar
1 1/2 C milk
1/2 C sweetened condensed milk (if you double the recipe this means just empty the tin)
125g butter
pinch salt
1 Tbsp golden syrup (like a stronger flavored corn syrup, guess maple syrup would be nice substitute but I prefer golden syrup)

Put sugar and milk into a saucepan.  Heat gently, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves.  Add condensed milk,, butter, salt and g. syrup.  Stir until butter has melted.  Bring to the boil and continue boiling to the soft ball stage, stirring constantly to prevent burning.  This fudge burns so easily.  When you feel it is ready to beat, take from heat and put pot into sink semi filled with totally cold water.  DONT beat until most of the bubbles have risen because you can cause it to crystallise doing this.  It is a fine line knowing when to take from the heat and beat  -  takes doing it a few times to get a grip on it if you are not a fudge maker already.  Nuts optional, add last minute before pouring in to dish.  walnuts are nice to offset the sweetness.

I am a terrible fudge maker...but may just try it! Thanks!

What makes it Russian? Does it go well with Smirnov? ;P

just go with a low heat. takes time, if my kids are making it I usually have to take a turn on the spoon. should be a lovely caramel color. will post a pic tomorrow when I hopefully have success myself.

Aye . . . . I don't know what makes it Russian, I gave some to my Scottish neighbor and she said it was like something she used to get from Scotland called "tablet". I wish I had tried Smirnov to know if it went well but I dare say it would :-). booze + sugar always sounds good to me. In my cookbook from NZ it is called Russian Fudge and as a kid that just meant it wasn't chocolate cause that was what I had to compare to. maybe I should not have put Russian in the title. my Mum sometimes put crystallized ginger chopped up small in it too.

So my question is , Is bread pudding like French toast?

I'm so going to try your crepes recipe Sue. That sounds great. I'm thinking Strawberry's and whipping cream oh with a touch of icing sugar, mmmmm.

Ruffledfeathers wrote:So my question is , Is bread pudding like French toast?

Actually, yes!

Think of bread pudding as a giant bowl of French toast, baked, not fried that you can cover with raisins and cream. You can also add more eggs and milk than French Toast can 'carry' to make it even more pudding-like.

I also have a recipe for make-ahead caramel French toast. Interested?

Not my recipe, but still delicious!   

I like to make it in individual muffin tins.

Kittencal's Overnight Layered Caramel French Toast

Prep Time: 24 hrs
Total Time: 24 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 tablespoons corn syrup
1/2 cup butter ( no substitutions)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
12 slices French bread ( preferably 1-2 day old bread)
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream or 1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 teaspoon maple extract

Directions

Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
In a small saucepan combine the corn syrup, butter and brown sugar; simmer stirring until syrupy.
Pour the mixture over the bottom of a buttered baking pan.
Lay 6 slices of bread over the brown sugar mixture.
In a bowl whisk together the eggs with half and half cream or milk, vanilla and salt.
Pour half of the egg mixture over the bread slices in the pan.
Then layer the remaining 6 slices on top.
Pour the remaining egg/milk mixture over the top (make sure that all the bread is covered with the mixture).
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
The next day remove from the fridge.
Set the oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake uncovered for 45 minutes.

Magdelan wrote:just go with a low heat.  takes time, if my kids are making it I usually have to take a turn on the spoon.  should be a lovely caramel color.  will post a pic tomorrow when I hopefully have success myself.  

Aye . . . .  I don't know what makes it Russian, I gave some to my Scottish neighbor and she said it was like something she used to get from Scotland called "tablet".  I wish I had tried Smirnov to know if it went well but I dare say it would :-).  booze + sugar always sounds good to me.  In my cookbook from NZ it is called Russian Fudge and as a kid that just meant it wasn't chocolate cause that was what I had to compare to.  maybe I should not have put Russian in the title.  my Mum sometimes put crystallized ginger chopped up small in it too.  

adding photographs of my re-cooked fudge, turned out a great batch with walnuts in it too  -  that is what is so lumpy.  Sorry for the major hijack Sue, this got a bit far from bread pudding gone awry.  looking forward to trying out your other recipes, the plus side of a hijack :-).
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Schipperkesue wrote:I like to make a double batch of Crepes on the weekend, pile them on a plate, and keep them in the fridge.  In the morning I smear a spoonful of preserves on them, roll them up and pop them in the microwave for an easy breakfast.  All 4 food groups represented- protein, milk, carbs and fruit.  If you want them for dinner with a nice filling, remove the sugar and vanilla- two unnecessary ingredients.

Crepes

In your blender/food processer put:

4 eggs
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups skim milk
1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar

Blend well, spoon 1/2 cup into a fairly hot pan ( my stove is a little cooler and I use the setting 5 out of a max of 10), and cook for 3 minutes a side.  I put a little oil in the cast iron pan for the first one but after the first one, which never cooks well anyway, I don't need any more oil.

Would it make any difference if one was to use 2% milk?