Fall baking

I don't know what it is about cold weather that just makes me want to bake, bake, bake. I think I just like having the kitchen be warm and smelling like nice baked goodies...there's nothing as comforting on a cold day as a nice warm dessert.

Maple Leaf cookies (11/15/09)

It was sooo cold in the house I just wanted to warm myself up from the inside with some cookies! I got the recipe from Epicurious, and made these kind of cookies once before, but I just stuck with regular maple syrup and took the easy way out and made plain round cookies...they were pretty tasty but just looked like regular butter cookies. However, I found a maple-leaf cookie cutter at World Market (only 99 cents!) and have been dying to make these again. This time, I used the Grade B maple syrup that was mentioned in the recipe, which gave it more maple-y flavor. At the suggestion of some of the commenters, I also sprinkled them with Maple sugar that I bought at a gourmet store a while back...it caramelized nicely while baking and added even more maple flavor! I couldn't stop eating these when they came out of the oven, and they didn't last too long either when I brought them to work the next day. Yum!

Bread pudding (11/8/09):

After my wine-and-cheese girly movie night with Leah, I still had a bunch of bread left, since I went overboard and bought two kinds of bread. We wound up finishing only about half of each, but I just feel so bad wasting some good Acme baguette and cranberry walnut bread. I wound up making some bread pudding, and I had so much bread that it was enough to make 2 batches! I brought one to the lab at work, and had Uly bring the other batch to his office. I usually make it with brioche, which yields the best results (Trader Joe's sells them for $4.99), but they work for any leftover bread that I have around the house. The cranberry-walnut bread added a bit of sweetness and nuttiness that was a nice variety from my regular recipe.

For my bread pudding, I used a combination of this recipe from Epicurious with some tweaks, including some techniques added from Cook's Illustrated. I usually make it with brioche(Trader Joe's sells them for $4.99), which yields the best results, but they work for any leftover bread that I have around the house.


Brioche Bread Pudding

Modified from (Bon Appétit | February 1999)

Ingredients:

Bread Pudding

1 1-pound brioche (or any other leftover bread), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
8 large eggs
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups whole milk
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Disarrono (almond liqueur) or Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1/2 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg

Topping
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
freshly-grated nutmeg to taste

Preparation:

Reserving around 2 cups of bread cubes, place the rest in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Whisk eggs, whipping cream, milk, sugar, liqueur, vanilla and almond extract in large bowl to blend. Pour over bread cubes. Let stand 30 minutes, occasionally pressing bread into custard mixture. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange reserved bread cubes on on top of mixture, pushing down gently to partially submerge. Mix cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar in a small bowl. Brush exposed bread with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Bake until pudding is set in center, about 40-50 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm with cold freshly-whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Catch of the Day

After going camping, Uly actually brought back a fish! Too bad he didn't actually catch it, but at least Ivan was generous enough to donate his fish for our dinner. We just did a simple pan-sear with some butter, and made a light heirloom tomato salsa. To accompany it, made some basmati rice with some green onion for a little crunch (does that count as a vegetable?). We also finally drank the Picchetti Viognier (2006) that has been sitting in our cupboard since our first passport day over a year ago. It was nice and light, and went perfectly with our dinner.

There's definitely nothing like a really fresh piece of fish...Uly cooked it perfectly, so it was nice and tender inside, and not overcooked at all. This simple preparation definitely did this super-fresh fish justice. Thanks boys!

Savory French Toast

The day after our sleepover, Leah and I decided to make some brunch. We wanted something hearty and heavy after all the drinking the night before...and what better cure for a hangover than rich food and some hair of the dog (in this case, mimosas)!

Most of the savory french toast recipes we saw were pretty damn complicated and required layering the bread with the savory ingredients and baking, seeming more like savory bread pudding, really. Not that there's anything wrong with that and would like to try to make it someday, but we wanted something easy and quick to make for breakfast. I then stumbled into this recipe for "eggy bread", which turned out to be exactly what I'm looking for. Like regular french toast, you dip the bread in the batter and pan-fry it. Unlike most custard bases though, this one was predominantly egg with just a splash of milk, and no sugar at all. I usually use brioche for french toast, but it seemed like it would be too sweet/rich for this recipe so just used a crusty batard for this recipe. After dipping the bread, we fried them and then topped them with grated gruyere cheese and melted the cheese in the skillet. On the plate, we then topped them with sliced heirloom tomatoes and chives. Of course, no savory breakfast is complete without some bacon!

Will definitely want to have this again, and try different variations in the future. It totally hit the spot after a long night of drinking!

Slumber Party

Since Uly was going camping with his buddies, Leah and I decided to have a wine, cheese, and girly movie night! We had planned on watching Hannah Montana to make fun of it (best done w/ lots of booze, but we wound up watching 4 movies total that night (and went through >3 bottles of wine). Good times!

Hard cheeses (clockwise from bottom left): Manchego, Parmiggiano-Reggiano, Ford Farm farmhouse cheddar


Soft cheeses (clockwise from bottom left): Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor, Castello blue cheese, Explorateur triple creme


Sonoma smoked duck, and spicy chorizo


Acme cranberry-walnut bread and baguette


The wines: Loxton Sonoma Reds , Quinta Cruz Rabelo 2005 (Port-style), Château Léoville Poyferré Saint-Julien (Bordeaux) 2005, Champagne de Venoge NV, Luchador Shiraz 2007 (not pictured...wound up getting that later!)


Wineglasses for champagne, bordeaux, and port


Girly movies: Hannah Montana (the movie), The Proposal. Also wound up watching Mulan and Beauty and the Beast (not pictured)


Leah about to partake in our feast


Getting ready to open the champagne


Our total damage from the day...polished of 2 full bottles and 2 half-bottles, with some leftover port. Good thing the port will last a while! Girly wine night is fun!