Brown Butter Pecan Brioche Pudding with Bourbon Brown Butter Sauce

Butter Pecan Brioche Bread Pudding with boozy sauce. Just say it to yourself and you'll know exactly why I allowed myself to be seduced by this idea. The idea for this was sparked because my new boss has a pretty sweet (no pun intended) ice cream maker and was describing the rich, custard-y chocolate ice cream she had made. It caused me to dream of making my favorite flavor at home: butter pecan. Well, I don't have an ice cream maker and I'd been planning to play around with another style of bread pudding and bam--this dish was born. I added my own little twist to the idea of butter pecan by using nutty brown butter in both the pudding and the sauce. Sweet and spicy cognac and bourbon in the sauce compliment the rich butter flavor and crisp toasted pecans. This is an easy yet impressive dish to make for company. If you chill the sauce you may notice it separating. It will come back together when warm and sufficiently whisked.

A word about the choice of bread: If you can find brioche or have a good recipe and don't mind making some, definitely use it; it really gave the pudding a much softer consistency, so it was more like a custard than a bread pudding. This was the consistency I was shooting for and I think it can best be achieved with soft bread like brioche or challah, although brioche is best.

Brown Butter Pecan Brioche Pudding with Bourbon Brown Butter Sauce

For the Pudding:

4 cups stale brioche, cubed
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons clarified brown butter
1/3 cup whole pecans
1 tiny pinch of salt

1. Assemble the bread pudding: grease a 9 × 9 inch baking dish and lightly press the brioche into the dish to compact it somewhat and make it easier for the egg mixture to be absorbed.
2. Whisk together all other pudding ingredients and pour equally over entire pan of bread cubes. Press once more to get eggs absorbed. Cover and chill for a minimum of 3 hours and up to overnight.
3. In the last half hour of your pudding chilling, make your sauce (see below instructions).
4. Preheat the oven to 325 and lay your pecans in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Ladle a small amount of sauce over them and toast for between 5 - 10 minutes. Set sauce aside and cover to keep warm.
5. Turn the oven down to 300 and bake bread pudding for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake.
6. Chop toasted pecans and sprinkle over each portion before serving. Cover each portion with a generous amount of sauce.

For the Sauce:

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup water
2 Tablespoons cognac
2 Tablespoons bourbon
1/4 cup cream
2 Tablespoons clarified brown butter

1. Add water sugar and salt to a small saucepan over low heat. When sugar has dissolved add cognac and bourbon.
2. Reduce to 2/3rds of its original volume by continuing to cook sauce at a lazy simmer.
3. When it has been suitably reduced, add cream to warmed brown butter. Whisk to combine. Slowly incorporate this into your sauce and remove from heat.
4. Use sauce for pecans and to cover bread pudding.

Green Tea Cheesecake

The first time I tasted green tea creme brulee I thought it was excellent. I thought that the marriage of creamy vanilla and bitterly brassy and herbaceous green tea was just magical and it sparked a thought: what other creamy vanilla desserts would embrace the flavors of green tea? Cheesecake was the first thing that popped into my head. After tasting the product of two batches worth of experimentation I was rather glad it did! The green tea flavor is subtle, but perfect and the smell of vanilla in the kitchen was intoxicating. I made mini cheesecakes in my muffin tin, lined with large sized paper baking cups.

Green Tea Cheesecake

Makes 5 mini cheesecakes or one 7" cheesecake

For the crust:
2 graham crackers, crushed
4 small ginger snaps, crushed
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar

For the filling:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup half n half
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 Tablespoon green tea with matcha powder
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg

1. Mix together all crust ingredients and press into baking cups or springform pan (if you're planning to make one cheesecake you'll be using the springform; multiple mini cheesecakes are made in baking cups). Set in the fridge for an hour to cool.
2. Add cream, half n half and tea to a small saucepan and steep for 10 minutes over the lowest setting. Strain dairy and set aside to cool.
3. When cream mix has cooled, whisk it thoroughly into cream cheese. Form a slurry with vanilla and cornstarch and add it to cream and cheese in bowl. Add egg and stir to thoroughly mix.
4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and pour filling into baking cups or springform pan. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center.
5. Cool to room temp, then refrigerate for at least one hour to allow to set. Serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Crisp Topped Baked Apples

Sometimes I feel the need to explain why I am posting a certain recipe; why I've combined the flavors the way I have. Today's post features a dish that need no explanation. It's the perfect time of year for apples, and even pie haters have united in their love of crisp. Serve it a la mode and you'll have one unbelievably decadent dessert. Does it ease the richness of the combo that you'll bake the apple whole, with just a little caramel spice syrup in the center to flavor it?

My syrup bubbled over the sides of my apples and created a burnt, crunchy layer at the bottom of my pan during the part where I turned the heat up to bake the crisps, so I'd suggest covering the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. That being said, this dessert was fairly easy to throw together, the hardest part being carving the core mostly out of the apples without cutting all the way through (leaving the bottom intact to keep the juices in). My favorite part of the recipe is the vanilla and spice clove caramel syrup. I didn't think to reserve some caramel to drizzle over the plate, but I've fixed that in the recipe directions. Also, I deliberately included more crisp topping in the recipe than can fit in the apples. I found that baking it up in a muffin tin, breaking it into large pieces and sprinkling it over the ice cream created the perfect crisp to fruit to ice cream ratio.

Baked Apples w/ Crisp Topping

Makes 4 servings

4 apples
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
6 spice clove heads, crumbled
1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon
tiny pinch of salt
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Teaspoon maple syrup
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons cold butter, chopped into small pieces
(optional) 1 Tablespoon whiskey (or cognac or bourbon)

1. Preheat oven to 325 (for smaller apples or hotter ovens, 300)
2. Cut a cone shaped wedge into the center of the apple, mostly removing the core, but not cutting all the way through to the bottom of the apple; this is to keep all of the juices from flowing out during cooking. The widest part of the wedge shape will go towards the top.
3. In a pan over low heat melt butter and add salt, crushed clove bulbs and cinnamon. Cook for 5 minutes to toast the spices. Add maple syrup, vanilla and sugar and allow to melt, stirring gently and occasionally. This will take about 7 to 10 minutes. Add optional whiskey and stir to incorporate.
4. Grease a baking dish and set apples into it, cut side up. Pour approximately 1 1/2 Tablespoons of the spiced vanilla sauce into the cone cut into each apple. You want to fill the cavities to about 1/2 centimeter to the top. Try to reserve some sauce to drizzle over top.
5. Bake the apples for about 20 minutes, basting the apples with their juices every ten minutes.
6. Assemble the topping: mix together flour, brown sugar and oats until thoroughly combined. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, incorporate chopped butter until the mixture forms loose, medium sized crumbs.
7. Remove apples from oven and turn heat up to 400. Stuff each apple cavity with crisp mixture. Loosely pack the remaining topping into a muffin tin and fill each cup only about 1/2" high, to allow mixture to get properly crunchy.
8. Bake apples and muffin tin full of crisp topping in the oven for 15 minutes.
9. Serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Garnish with extra crisp topping and drizzled with sauce.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

Strawberry Shortcake w/ Lemon Cream Cheese Shortcake Biscuits

Boy oh boy it has been quite some time since I did a dessert post! Well, this dish was too lovely not to share, so here I present to you my twist on strawberry shortcake.

One of the best foods this time of year is berries. Summertime berries, particularly strawberries, are best cooked as little as possible. This recipe requires they be macerated, but they're otherwise left alone in their strawberry goodness. They're a lovely accompaniment to the rich and citrus-y cream cheese lemon shortbread biscuits. Completing the dish is some easy to whip up gin spiked whipped cream. I admit that these shortbread biscuits are quite decadent, but the dough freezes well, so there's no need to make them all at once. And biscuit sized shortcakes means smaller portions. Less guilt? Hopefully. Once you taste this version of the dessert I'm betting calories will be the last thing on your mind.

Strawberry Shortcake w/ Lemon Cream Cheese Biscuits

For the biscuits:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar + 1 Tablespoon for biscuit topping*
1 egg, beaten to a froth
1/2 cup butter
1/3 + 1 Tablespoon half n half
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 egg beaten for eggwash

For the whipped cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 ounce gin
1 teaspoon sugar, syrup or honey (optional)

For the strawberries:

1 pint strawberries, cleaned and sliced
juice of one orange
1 teaspoon sugar*

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl add half n half to the frothy egg, then cream cheese. Beat gently until incorporated.
4. Fold butter into dry ingredients, then mix in wet ingredients until just combined.
5. Mix together strawberries, 1 teaspoon sugar and orange juice and set aside.
6. Combine heavy cream, gin and sugar in a bowl and beat with a whisk or hand mixer until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
7. form dough into a ball and turn it out onto floured work surface and pat out to roughly 2 1/2" thick. Cut into biscuits and lay out on a parchment lined cookie sheet with about 2" in between each biscuit. Brush tops with eggwash and sprinkle with sugar.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
9. Allow biscuits to cool for about 5 minutes. Remove whipped cream from refrigerator and whip briefly if it has lost some stiffness.
10. Cut biscuits in half and spread macerated strawberries over the inside. Add a layer of whipped cream and top with upper half of biscuit. Drizzle strawberry juice over biscuit and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and I welcome your feedback!

*I like to use evaporated cane juice sugar, the molasses content of which is like super light brown sugar, even lighter than turbinado sugar; for the biscuit topping