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.