Recipe: Limoncello Bread Pudding

A few days ago I decided I wanted to make a limoncello bread pudding. I'd been thinking about lemon-y dessert things I could do but didn't want a cake or a pie and that seemed a good idea as any. I love bread pudding and I love playing around with different flavors to do with them. I wanted to wait for a night I was actually going to cook dinner as well so I could have a nice dessert following something that wasn't Chipotle or Snappy Salads.

 So yesterday, after I got all of the food prepping for take to work lunches done for the week, I decided it was going to be a "spend a lot of time in the kitchen" kind of day. I checked over a recipe for spicy Sicilian chicken stew that had been passed along to me from a friend's mother and luckily, I had everything I needed to make it on hand. Which gave me the perfect excuse to make a (hopefully) kick ass dessert to follow up a delicious meal.

I haven't made a citrus flavored bread pudding but I LOVE lemon things. And lime things. Tart and sweet are my friends. The boyfriend also loves lemon and/or lime desserts so I figured this would be the perfect new thing to try out.

It did not suck. 

I posted a picture on my instagram account because what else are food pictures good for other than to take up space on the internet? Anyway, a few people asked if I'd share the recipe. I had already planned to put it up somewhere and this is a better place for a food post than The Book of Faces.

Limoncello Bread Pudding

Ingredients

Bread Pudding:

6 cups cubed challah bread (or whatever you prefer)
3 large eggs
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup limoncello
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

Unsalted butter or cooking spray, for buttering the casserole dish

Topping:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp limoncello
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

Whipped cream:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp granulated sugar

Directions:

Bread pudding: 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, half-and-half, limoncello, lemon juice, sugar, vanilla, salt and lemon zest.

Butter a 2-quart casserole dish and add the bread cubes to the dish. Pour the wet ingredients over the bread and let sit, refrigerated for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, uncover the dish and continue to bake 20 minutes or until the bread has puffed up and is nicely golden on top. Allow to set for a few minutes after removing from oven.

Sauce to top bread pudding: In a small sauce pan over low heat, whisk together powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice, limoncello and lemon zest until powdered sugar is dissolved and smooth. 

Whipped cream: Place a metal mixing bowl and metal whisk into the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes. Place the sugar into the chilled mixing bowl and add the whipping cream. Whisk just until the cream reaches stiff peaks. 


Once the bread pudding is ready to serve, cut out a piece and top with the glaze and whipped cream to your liking.

I like to put about a tablespoon of sauce on mine while the boyfriend ended up putting several tablespoons on top of his and about twice the amount of whipped cream as well. Either way it was delicious and I'm not sad that there was plenty left over.

Enjoy!

PS and totally unrelated: I'll have the final post and pictures up from the 2016 Toys for Tots fundraiser up here soon! If we're buds on The Book of Faces, the pictures are already up there for your viewing enjoyment. 

Recipe: Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

I had fried mac and cheese at a restaurant and contemplated making them for a special occasion after that. I'm not a huge fan of fried foods but mac and cheese in a crunchy Panko crust with a creamy cheese sauce just oozing out? Not bad.

A week ago, a friend of mine asked if I could make some fried mac and cheese for a party. I agreed and then decided, like with all things I've never made before, I'd do a test run of it. My boyfriend was fine with being my guinea pig for all of this.

Most recipes I found cited using boxed mac and cheese. That didn't work for me and I already have a great recipe for mac and cheese. So I just decided to go at from there and it worked out. I had several people from Facebook and Twitter ask for the recipe so decided I'd put one together since I winged this dish and put it up on the blog for sharing.

Fried Mac & Cheese Squares

Ingredients:

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk, warmed, plus 2 tablespoons for egg wash
• 1 pound grated Cheddar
• 1 pound grated smoked Gouda
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups Panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions:

Cook the macaroni according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain again and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour into the butter and stir it with a whisk, cooking for about 2 minutes. Whisk the warmed milk into the flour mixture, working out all the clumps. Cook until the sauce thickens, for about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cheeses and stir until melted and smooth then season with the salt and pepper. Fold the cheese sauce into macaroni. Pour the mac and cheese into a shallow pan. It needs to be refrigerated until cold, at least 3 hours.

After that, shape the cold mac and cheese into small squares by cutting them evenly and removing them onto a waxed paper-lined tray.You can use a table spoon or ice cream scooper if you prefer a ball to a square. Freeze the macaroni squares overnight.

Next day, beat the eggs and 2 tablespoons milk together to form an egg wash and pour it into a shallow bowl. Put the bread crumbs into another shallow bowl. Mix the garlic, onion powder and paprika into the bread crumbs. Remove the mac and cheese squares from the freezer. Dip the frozen balls into the egg wash then into the bread crumbs, making sure to coat thoroughly. Put the squares back into the freezer until you're ready to fry them up.

Heat the oil to 350 degrees F. Fry the mac and cheese squares until they are golden brown and center is hot, about 4 to 5 minutes.

You can serve them as is or marinara or alfredo sauce goes nicely with it as well.

Happy Thursday!

Recipe: Cookies and cream cupcakes in a cone...

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!

I posted pictures of these to Tumblr and I had a lot of people wanting to know how to make them once I explained what they were. So, I decided I'd do a blog post about it.

I made these the other day. A friend of mine was having her birthday celebration dinner with her family and instead of buying a birthday cake, I was requested to make them a cake. When I inquired about what my friend would prefer, she went through tons of options and went back and forth on what she wanted. She has a big sweet tooth and was also being considerate towards what her family would like as well. So after almost an hour of her indecision, I suggested making a couple different varieties of cupcakes instead of just having a single cake. She contemplated that and then perked up quickly. She had remembered me mentioning making cupcakes in ice cream cones and asked me if I could do that. Sure I can but that still didn't help me out on the flavor of cake to use.

So after more thought and indecision, she finally decided, after checking with family members, that cookies and cream cupcakes would be the way to go. I was secretly happy she settled on one cake flavor, too.

While doing multiple flavors wouldn't have been difficult as long as she kept them simple, it's less work this way and I didn't have much free time to work into doing her birthday cupcakes for her.

These are really fun to make! You can do so many different things with them, too.

For hers, I did a vanilla cupcake with plenty of crushed Oreo cookies folded in.

I wanted the icing to taste as close to the cream centers of an Oreo cookie as possible. I did a rather successful job of that, too! According to her and her family anyway. Also I had a few extras that I sent home with my mom last night for my younger sister. She was rather pleased as well.

Then I topped half of them with more crushed Oreo cookies and left the other half topping free, as requested by the birthday girl.

To make these, all you need is some ice cream cones, cupcake batter and frosting. I make all my cupcakes and frosting from scratch but I'm quite positive boxed mix and canned frosting will do just fine if you don't have the time or inclination to make them from scratch.

Once you have your cupcake batter done, spoon it into the ice cream cones until they're 2/3 full. Sit the cones into a muffin/cupcake pan and then bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Of course time varies based on your oven. Just keep an eye on them and make sure not to over cook them. Cool completely then frost and decorate however you want to.

Happy Wednesday!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

It's no secret to anyone who knows me that I enjoy cooking and baking. It should also be no secret that I like to think of baking as not only therapeutic but also as a form of art and expression. I like coming up with ways to use bright colors, funky designs, etc.

Sunday night, I made the boyfriend chocolate chip cookies. I decided I wanted some mint chocolate chip cookies for myself and figured I could make a big batch and then give out half a dozen each to a few friends who have a mint chip weakness.

I posted a picture of the cookie dough for the mint chocolate chip cookies on Tumblr and Twitter. I had a lot of people from both want to know where I got the cookie dough because it looked awesome and they wanted to make it.

Then I had to go telling them that I didn't buy the cookie dough anywhere because honestly, I really hate store bought cookie dough. It just doesn't taste as good as cookies homemade cookies from scratch full of love, rainbows and other happy smiley stuff. Once I assured the people asking how easy it was to make, the recipe was requested. I figured I might as well post it on here so more people can snatch it if they want.

Here's how the cookie dough looked:



So, recipe time, yes?

CHOCOLATE CHIP MINT COOKIES

1 1/2 sticks of butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup mint baking chips (If you can't find any, Andes mints chopped up work too)
Green food color gel or food color liquid

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugars on high speed. Beat in egg. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extracts.

Mix together dry ingredients and add to butter mixture slowly. Stir until just combined.

Add in food coloring gel/liquid until you get the desired shade of green you want. I like using the gel because you get a more vibrant color and it doesn't effect the taste or texture but food coloring liquid works fine, too. Stir until well combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and mint chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. (I actually use a small ice cream scoop.) Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove immediately and cool on wire rack.


You can also make these easier by using a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix instead of dealing with the flour, baking powder, etc. Just make the mix according to direction, add the mint extract, baking chips and boom. A little bit of a quicker and easier version.

Enjoy!

Happy Tuesday!