Christmas Leftovers - Panettone Bread Pudding

Ok - I started writing this post a while back but never finished it! So, unfortunately the subject is a bit dated...Christmas!!!!!!!

The history on this one ....My mother-in-law loves Panettone and since she and my father-in-law have spent a fair amount of time in Europe, we decided to get an Italian one..(well, from the Italian deli). We were also going to have 6 people in the house over the Christmas period so we splurged at the Italian deli and got a huge one! By huge - I truly mean HUGE and was wondering how we would finish it. It turned out to be very delicious and would have got over except for the fact that I was dying to try a Panettone Bread Pudding recipe I found in a magazine several years ago.

The pudding looked beautiful coming out the oven and smelt delicious. I had a bite...and oops, disliked it! I felt so sad that it did not turn out well coz the smell and look were umm....yummy AND, I had been treasuring this recipe for years, waiting for an opportunity to make it!

Anyway, I asked my sister-in-law to taste it. She liked it and said it was fit to be served. Okaay.. I was still unsure but went ahead and served it to everyone else. Some had it with ice cream and some without. Guess what, they all liked it!?! The pudding was almost over and honestly, I was shocked. Perhaps the lesson is - I don't like bread puddings! I have never had one before, so I did not know what to expect..!

Ingredients

1 loaf panettone (32-35 ounces) cut into 1 inch cubes

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Butter for baking dish

Method

Heat oven to 325F. Place panettone in a bowl. In another bowl whisk cream, milk, eggs, yolk, sugar, zest and vanilla extract. Pour over the cubes of panettone and let soak for 5 minutes, stirring 2-3 times gently. Pour mixture into buttered baking dish and bake for 60-70 minutes.

Midnight Dreams.....

I know, it's been ages since I've posted. Many excuses for that and lot's of catching up to do. So, may as well get on with midnight dreams! Midnight Dreams is a result of dreaming about dessert and making do with the ingredients at home. Thus, an easy, last minute dessert.

-And to those still thinking about the fact that I dream of food :) , yes - sometimes I do dream about food. Come on, it's better than dreaming about my year end statement of benefits from the insurance company (I did dream about that too!). This year end has brought lots of odd dreams but as usual, I digress.

Ingredients

Blackberries - as many as you like..

Mascarpone - 250gms

1 Egg White

30 gms Caster Sugar

Crushed Vanilla Cookies or any sweet cookies

Honey

Method

Mix the mascarpone, egg white and sugar in a bowl until smooth. Then layer in the blackberries, crushed cookies and cream anyway you like it. Drizzle some honey over the last layer of blackberries and it's done. Simplicity!

Chocolate Mousse, really?

This is how this one goes -

Friends move into lovely large house. They know they will tire of unpacking over the weekend. So, they have us over for lunch on Sunday. Any chance I get, I like to make dessert and thus, I volunteered (the least I could do)! Now, as much as I thought I would prepare stuff well in advance, I was down to the wire as usual. And then I remembered, no worries - time to try out the Nigella Lawson Chocolate Mousse. Nigella Lawson recently published a book, Nigella Express, that focuses on quick meals. Am sure the book has the recipe but I saw one of her 'express' cooking shows and was fascinated with the chocolate mousse. Think Nigella Lawson is the UK version of Rachel Ray? Anyway, forget silly comparisons and other random thoughts. Back to the point. Chocolate Mousse was made and it was surprisingly like the real thing!

Ingredients

150g Marshmallows

50g Unsalted Butter

250g Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)*

60ml Hot Water

284ml Double Cream

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Fresh Raspberries as needed. Ideal when using the dark chocolate!

* If you don't like Dark Chocolate, use regular cooking chocolate or mix the dark chocolate with some cooking/milk chocolate. This makes the taste less intense, easier for kids to have.

**Also, this recipe makes 6 large servings or 12 moderate to small servings (smaller servings are better when using rich dark chocolate, as the large serving can get too heavy after a nice meal). Mind you, we took a whole hour but we finished of the 'large' serving of mousse!

Method

Cut each marshmallow in half and drop the pieces in a heavy saucepan. Add the butter. Chop the chocolate into smallish pieces and into the pan. Add the hot water and put the pan on the heat, stirring occasionally until everything is smooth and melted. Remove from the heat. Whip the cream with vanilla extract until thick, then fold into the chocolate mixture until totally absorbed and smooth again. Pour into 6 small ramekins or glasses, and cover with cling-film. Put into the fridge to set, this will take at least 3 hours. Be careful as you transfer them to the fridge - klutzy me, I tipped a couple of the glass bowls as can be seen in the picture! :) Once set, top with raspberries just before serving. The raspberries taste lovely with dark chocolate.

Panini for Dessert?

Yes, Panini for dessert. It's a Chocolate and Strawberry panini and fits my current theme ... quick, easy and something new! I saw this on FoodTV during my NY trip and could not wait to come back home and try it. It's a success with kids but us adults have been loving it to :)

Ingredients

1/4 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommend Nutella...mmmm!)

12 (1/2-inch) thick slices pound cake loaf (known as sponge cake in the UK)

6 fresh strawberries, hulled and very thinly sliced

Butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray (optional)

Vanilla Ice cream (optional)

Method

Heat a panini grill to medium. Even a 'George Foreman' grill will do. Spread the chocolate-hazelnut spread over 1 side of all of the pound cake slices. Arrange the sliced strawberries over 6 cake slices. Cover with the remaining cake slices, chocolate side down. Spray the panini grill with nonstick spray and grill each panino until the pound cake is crisp and golden and the fillings are warm. It takes about 2 minutes depending on your grill strength. Cut each panino in half and serve. For those who like the hot with cold taste, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries. You know me...I can't keep away from ice cream!

You can also try the recipe with bananas if that's the preferred fruit.

Cupcakes - A new discovery in London

One Fine Saturday Morning......

I was going to buy some strawberries from Partridges in Chelsea (a last minute request from a friend to bring two boxes over for lunch) and I walked right into their 'farmer's market'. I had forgotten about the farmer's market (since farmer's markets to me mean the one on Portobello road or Borough market).

Anyway, though I was in a rush, I could not help looking at all the stalls and guess what I find - some lovely cupcakes! The stall was run by Crumbs and Doilies. They sold only mini-cupcakes in about a zillion flavours and toppings...chocolate, lemon, carrot cake, gummy bear, sprinkles...you name it. Gotta try these........mmmmm..lip smacking and cute..quick pop into the mouth!

Cloud Cakes

With my nieces in the house this weekend, baking cupcakes was the activity of the day. Never mind that we had visited Hummingbird Bakery, eaten a cupcake each and also packed some for home. Well, you know me... I probably had something to do with the cupcake suggestion (baking and eating)! We decided to make 'cloud' cupcakes' i.e. strawberry cupcakes with 'fluffy' icing. It was quick and easy. The cupcakes turned out well and while the basic icing also tasted nice, we probably should have beaten it a bit more to make it stiffer. The kids had a blast with the process and with the result :)
The recipe is taken from the Australian Women's Weekly - Cupcakes & Fairycakes recipe book. The book has fantastic pictures and simple, yet creative ideas for cupcake decoration!

Ingredients:

Strawberry Swirl Buttercake

• 90G Butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (10g) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup (150g) self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons strawberry jam

Fluffy Frosting

• 1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
• 40ml water
• 1 egg white

Decoration

• Pink coloured sugar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate (180 Celsius/160 Celsius fan-forced). Line 6-hole texas or 12-hole standard muffin pan with paper cases.
2. Beat butter, extract, sugar, eggs, flour and milk in a small bowl with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are just combined. Increase speed to medium, beat until mixture is changed to a paler colour.
3. Divide mixture among cases; smooth surface. Divide jam over tops of cakes; using a skewer swirl jam into cakes.
4. Bake large cakes about 30 minutes, small cakes about 20 minutes. Turn cakes onto wire rack to cool.
5. Make fluffy frosting.
6. Spread cakes with fluffy frosting; sprinkle with coloured sugar.

My personal deviation from the above recipe - I skipped the strawberry jam for some cupcakes and added in chocolate pieces instead. Also, since I currently own only a mini-muffin pan - we made mini-cupcakes!

Fluffy Frosting
Combine sugar and the water in small saucepan; stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved. Boil, uncovered, without stirring about 5 minutes or until syrup reaches 116C on a candy thermometer. Syrup should be thick but not coloured. Remove from heat, allow bubbles to subside. Beat egg white in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. While mixer is operating, add hot syrup in thin stream; beat on high speed about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and cool.

Pink sugar
Use granulated or caster sugar, depending on the texture you prefer. Place required amount of sugar in a plastic bag, add a tiny amount of colouring through sugar by 'massaging' plastic bag. Sugar will keep in a jar at room temperature indefinitely.
Sprinkle over icing.

Old Fashioned Crumb Cake

My fall back easy dessert. It's a crumb cake or also known as a coffee cake. Before I go any further, I have to thank an ex-colleague and his wife who introduced me to this recipe! It's a life saver and yummy! The cake is not too sweet (as everyone seems to want it nowadays), takes only 10 minutes to prepare and about 20-30 minutes to bake.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups of Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 cup brown Sugar

3/4 cup granulated Sugar

3/4 Oil

1/2 chopped Nuts (e.g. Pecans)

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Soda

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Egg lightly beaten

1 cup Buttermilk

Method

Sift together flour, salt and 1.5 teaspoon cinnamon into a huge bowl. Add sugars, oil and mix at medium speed of electric mixer until blended and fluffy. Measure out 3/4 cup of this mixture for topping and add nuts, remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon and nutmeg to it. Add soda, baking powder, egg and buttermilk to remaining flour mixture and stir until smooth. Turn into well greased 9x13 baking pan and level top. Sprinkle with topping and press lightly back with back of a spoon. Bake at 350F or 180C for 30-35 minutes. Note the time will vary depending on the oven. In NY it used to take me the whole 30-35 minutes but in London it takes me about 20-25 minutes. If left in too long, the topping will burn.

If you only want to make a small cake, then just halve the ingredients above. That's what I do most of the time. We often have this plain, warm from the oven or serve with Pralines & Cream or Dulce De Leche ice cream.

Below is a picture of the BIG helping DH took....!

Mmm.....Ice cream!

Ever since I left India, a whole new world has opened up for me..... it's the world of Haagen Daz and Ben & Jerrys. I absolutely love ice cream. Favourite flavour for a while was 'Light' Dulce De Leche by Haagen Daz. Unfortunately, you don't get the light version in London so have to revert to the original. I do like the original but at times, it can be too sweet. Good old comfort, don't want to experiment ice cream is Strawberry (Haagen Daz) and the best ice cream bars are Caramel Toffee crunch (Dove) which I have found only in Minneapolis. Favourite ice cream place was the Edina Creamery in Minneapolis.

Anyway, ice cream mixed with cookies is a quick and easy last minute dessert. The other day I combined Dulce De Leche with some Ginger cookies from Tesco's 'finest' brand. It was a lovely combination, the ginger flavour gave the ice cream a refreshing twist without that strong pungent taste that is associated with ginger. Serve in a see through ice cream bowl or even a cocktail glass and it takes it up a notch.

Today, as I was picking up some last minute supplies from Sainsbury Local, I could not help walking by the Haagen Daz ice cream freezer. I was looking to replace the Dulce De Leche I gorged on yesterday and came across a 'Summer Berries and Cream' ice cream instead. It is technically summer, so I got completely taken in by the labeling and bought it. It tasted delicious - fruity, creamy and summery as expected. However, I wanted to add my little twist - just a simple one. So, I crushed a Marks & Spencer biscuit curl over the ice cream and stuck a mint chocolate stick (bought at a 50% off Godiva sale..) and served it up in a fancy glass. Mmmm...ice cream... someday I'll own an ice cream maker.

The proof is in the pudding.....

Last year when we had just moved to London, we got invited to a 4th of July BBQ and that's where I tasted a fantastic banana pudding. Am not really into puddings but this one was just delicious and I actually asked for the recipe. Magnolia strikes again - the recipe is Magnolia Bakery's Famous Banana Pudding. The recipe proportions served about 15-20 people so I decided it would be perfect for Di's BBQ today. Safe to say the pudding was a hit as the huge bowl got polished off! When you read the recipe, don't think of calories please...just enjoy the result! It's not that often we indulge in puddings...

Ingredients:

1 can 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

1.5 cups ice cold water

1 3.4 oz pack instant vanilla pudding mix

3 cups heavy (double) cream

1 12 oz. box Nabisco Nilla Wafers

4 cups sliced ripe bananas

Directions:

In a small bowl, beat together the condensed milk and water until combined. Add pudding mix and beat well. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight before continuing. It is important for the pudding mix to set.

In a large bowl whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Gently fold pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

To assemble, select a large wide bowl (4-5 Qt. capacity). Arrange 1/3 of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, then 1/3 of the bananas and 1/3 of the pudding. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or crumbs on top. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4-8 hours.

That's the original recipe. I had to improvise slightly as I did not have an instant vanilla pudding mix. I had to cook the pudding (hot milk in saucepan type) and then let it set. I combined the whipped cream with set pudding and the can of condensed milk and it still worked. I think the result was that the pudding was not too sweet. I did get the Vanilla wafers and the pudding mix from the US but am guessing you can find Vanilla custard mix and plain Vanilla wafers (cookies/biscuits) in London. I need to look for a wafer substitute in the grocery stores here but am told that the Nabisco wafers are available at Partridges in the Duke of York square.

The Real Cupcakes

Why cupcakes...they are cute to look at, you can eat a whole one and not feel like you've had way too much cake (or so I tell myself) and well, they are just fantastic. This love for cupcakes began in New York at the one and only, Magnolia. Magnolia is good but NY is 'cupcake capital' and there is a whole world beyond Magnolia. My favourite cupcake place is Sugar Sweet Sunshine in the Lower East Side. Anyway, that's NY.
Coming to London. Cupcakes - what are those? More often than not, they are referred to as Fairy cakes..yes, cute but where are they?? After some misses (terrible dry cupcakes with fondant!), I have finally found a place that makes cupcakes as good as the ones you get in NY! It was an accidental discovery made while walking by South Ken. station. It's a cute little place called The Hummingbird Bakery. I've tried Chocolate on chocolate, chocolate on vanilla, vanilla on vanilla, cappuccino...and I've only been twice! They make red velvet, peanut butter and keep trying out new flavours like baked cheesecake... The cupcakes I've had are moist, light and plain old scrumptious! The bakery has a small seating area and they serve Illy coffee and a few other bakery items such as carrot cake, strawberry loaf etc. These items keep rotating so you may or may not find them on a particular day. The South Ken location is actually the second location - the first is on Portobello Road. Each bakery makes the cupcakes on the premises so it's all fresh! They even do mini-cupcakes for special orders. If ever looking for cupcakes in London, this is the place!

I found this on another blog ... the British view of American cupcakes..oops..fairy cakes.. :)

http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/2006/06/magnolia-bakery-bleecker-street-new.html