Banana Butterscotch Bread Pudding

Earlier this week, Mom made banana nut muffins for breakfast. For some reason, most were left uneaten. Instead of tossing the muffins, I figured I could something out of them. 

After deciding to try a bread pudding, I left the muffins to stale. 

I found a simple custard recipe online and tweaked it a bit. 

Custard: 

1 c. skim milk

4 whole eggs

4 egg whites

splash of vanilla

bit of orange zest

1/4-1/2 c. sugar. 

Procedure:
1)Whisk ingredients together and combine custard with stale bread (about 8-10 muffins).
Pour into a baking dish.

2)Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes. (until golden and puffed up)

3)Let sit for twenty minutes after baking. 

Butterscotch sauce:

1 c. whole milk

3 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp. cornstarch

1/4 c. butterscotch liqueur

Procedure: 

Whisk together cornstarch and liqueur. Bring milk and sugar to a boil. Stir in liqueur/cornstarch. Cook until sauce thickens. 

4) Pour over bread pudding and enjoy! 

This is great served hot or cold! 

My family loved it. I thought it tasted delicious, but it was a bit too "eggy" for me. I think I may try this a couple more times and see if I can tweak the formula a bit. 

Overall, it was a winner. =) 

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Baking 211 Day 11

Last practical of the year!! Whoohoo!

AND....

I made a 100%!

Today's plate's theme was Tarte Tatin-a classic French dessert. It is basically an upside down apple pie with with caramel sauce.

So, I made a puff pastry Vol-A-Vent (sort of like a well, or little cup), filled it with saboyan sauce (egg yolks, sugar, and white wine), and let it over flow with sauted apples. On the side I added a caramel parfait.
The components of the plate were great...I just wish I could have plated it better. Chef loved it. I didn't. I couldn't get a good picture of it...for some reason it just looks messy in the picture.

Well, that is all for now. =)
Merry Christmas!! 
See you next year!

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Baking 211 Day 11

I wasn't thrilled with today's plate.

But hey, I wasn't thrilled about anything today. It has just been one of those days.....

BUT! I do have good news. I made a 100% on the practical. =)

Chef said it tasted yummy....and it was really good, if I do say so myself.

Just in case you may have forgotten, today's plate was "Caribbean."

I made a Bavarios-three layers of different flavored Bavarian cream.
The bottom layer was Rum Bavarian cream. On top of that was Mango Bavarian cream, and the top layer was Coconut Bavarian cream. Oh, and it had a coconut sponge cake on the bottom.
The traditional Bavarios is made with three different chocolates, which makes it easier to see the layers.

Very tasty!

I am glad today is over. I'm so ready for Christmas break!

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Baking 211 Day 10

Today went well. Chef really liked my plate. She also said the creme brulee and the coffee ice cream both tasted really good. She had to remove points from my grade though, because the creme brulee didn't set up.

I still can not figure out why it wasn't set. It seemed set yesterday....
Chef couldn't figure it out either. Oh well. I still got an A. =)

Apple Cinnamon Creme Brulee, Coffee Ice cream

Wish me luck on tomorrow's "Caribbean" plate!

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Baking 113 Day 14

Along with the Baked Alaska yesterday, we made frozen mousse souffles (not pictured) and walnut maple parfaits. Today, we didn't have anything to do (it was supposed to be a cleaning day) so we worked on plating desserts.

Walnut Maple Parfait

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Baking 113 Day 13

Tuesday we made chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream. Today, we used those ice creams to make Baked Alaska. Very fun ( i got to used the blow torch =]) and very delish!

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Baking 113 Day 11

Yesterday we started making a triple chocolate Bavarian. We finished it today. The bottom layer is melted semi-sweet chocolate Bavarian cream. The middle is milk chocolate and the top is white chocolate. After freezing, it is stopped with a chocolate glaze. "Bavarois" is written on top in white chocolate.

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Baking 113

Yesterday we made chocolate souffles (no pictures =/ ) and molten lava cakes. So easy and delish!

Molten lava cake

For our practical today we had to produce one Charlotte Russe. (Ladyfingers around the side, filled with chocolate mousse, vanilla bavarian cream, and topped with a chocolate glaze.)

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Baking 113 Day 6

I love this little cake! It is so cute and it makes the perfect little personal dessert.

Ribbon (or stencil) Sponge Cake

filled with pomegranate mousse and topped with passion fruit mousse.

Decor paste.

Butter 3.5 oz

Powdered Sugar 3.5 oz

Egg whites 3.5 oz

Cake flour 3.8

Food coloring (as needed)

1. Cream together butter and p. sugar. Slowly beat in egg whites. Beat in flour and food coloring.

using a stencil, or your fingers, make a design on a silpat using the decor paste. (it needs to be thin.)

put in freezer.

Sponge Cake

Powdered Almonds 3.5 oz

Powdered Sugar 3 oz

Cake flour 1 oz

Whole eggs 4.75 oz

Egg whites 3.25 oz

Sugar .4 oz (2 & 1/2 tsp)

Butter, melted 1.25 oz

1. Sift together the p. almonds, p. sugar, and cake fl. Whip with the whole eggs until light and fluffy.

Make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar. Gently fold the meringue into the other mixture. Stir a little of the batter into the melted butter then add back to batter.

2. Pour onto frozen stencil paste and gently spread to cover the paste. Bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. The cake should have no color on it when it is done.

Mousse.

Gelatin 5 g

Sugar 25 g

Water 15 g

Fruit Puree 150 g

Heavy Whipping Cream 135 g

*Make twice using two different fruit purees.

Soak Gelatin sheets in cold water. Stir sugar and water in a pot over heat until sugar dissolves. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and add gelatin to the sugar/water. Stir until gelatin melts. Add the fruit puree.

Whip HWC. Slowly fold the fruit puree into the whipped cream and refrigerate until firm.

Cut strips of the sponge cake and put in a silicone circle or oval mold (fill the molds with an acetate strip first) so the stencil is facing outward. Put a layer of sponge cake on the bottom. Make sure everything is fit in tight. Fill the cake with one fruit mousse (halfway up the acetate strip). Using the other fruit mousse, fill the mold all the way to the top of the acetate strip. Freeze until mousse is solid. Enjoy!

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Baking 113 Day 2

We are learning about set custards this week. I tried creme brulee for the first time today. O my goodness. I thought to myself, "WHY in the world have I never had this before?!" It was amazing.

We also made Chocolate Pots du Creme (not pictured) and Creme caramel.

Creme Caramel

Creme caramel

We learned to brulee three different ways. The first is what you will typically see in a restaurant. It is the "american" creme brulee. The second is a "french" brulee. The sugar is bruleed until it is really dark. The third is a mixture of brown sugar and sugar. It gives the creme brulee a maple taste. Personally, I liked the "french" brulee the best. The bitterness from the overdone sugar goes really well with the custard. It takes away some of the richness, making it easier to eat the whole thing! =)

1)"American" creme brulee. 2)"French" creme brulee. 3)"Maple" creme brulee

Not a great picture. But it shows the different types of creme brulee.

Creme Caramel:

For the caramel, boil 8 oz of sugar and 1 oz of water until the sugar turns to an amber or light honey color. Pour into 4 oz aluminum tins. Let harden.

Eggs 4 oz

Sugar 2 oz

Salt 1/8

Vanilla .125 oz

Milk 10 oz

(this is a 1/4 of a batch. it makes about three)

Heat sugar, salt, vanilla, and milk in a pot. Slowly temper the steaming milk mixture into beaten eggs. Pour onto hard caramel. Bake in a hot water bath in a 300 degree oven. The custard is done when it slightly juggles from side to side. Let it sit in a cooler overnight.

To serve, turn out onto plate.

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