"Cooking School"- French Toast, 2 ways

Either one of these versions would make a great breakfast on a holiday morning like today.

Let me explain the "Cooking School" in the title.

It all started when we made these Bunny Buns ( the recipe is at the bottom of that post- it's really just a fancy way of twisting orange rolls). My daughter decided that she wanted to have a weekly "Cooking School" where she picked something and we made it together. Please forgive the formality of the title, but that is just what she said. I am by no means qualified in any way to call it that or teach, but it is what we are going with. :D

I decided that since summer was upon us, that this would be a great way to spend some time together in the kitchen.

Her first request- French Toast.

French Toast is not something that I make often. I guess because I usually feel like it doesn't come out quite right.
Well folks- "Cooking School" has cured the problem. I decided that we would make French Toast 2 ways- the traditional way and the baked way.

I searched for a basic French Toast recipe and found one by Alton Brown that fit the bill. It had a few extra steps that I have never seen before, but I have watched an episode or two of Good Eats, so I knew that if anyone had perfected a technique, scientifically, it was him. He uses half & half in the custard mixture and has you let the bread drip over a wire rack before you cook it, but I think what gives his French Toast the perfect texture and taste is the last step. He has you warm the oven and the french toast goes into the hot oven for 5 minutes, which puffs it up and makes it turn out restaurant style. We topped our french toast with a homemade strawberry sauce and strawberry whipped cream.

Baked french toast is just a slightly healthier version of bread pudding, in my opinion. I have made it a few times in the past. This recipe is basic and very good. We loved it.

Of course we didn't make these 2 recipes in the same day, but it was a lot of fun.

My daughter decided that the next series in our "Cooking School" should be salad, because these were a little on the rich side!


Here is the recipe for French Toast from Alton Brown
* We used real maple syrup instead of honey
* We used challah and topped it with a homemade strawberry sauce & strawberry whipped cream
* We only used 2 Tablespoons of butter to cook the french toast in our electric skillet in 2 batches

Here is the recipe for Baked French Toast with Blueberries from Giada de Laurentiis
* We used sourdough bread

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

It's that time of year. The time when I start making pumpkin everything.
I feel kinda embarrassed admitting this, but a couple weeks ago, I bought every last can of pumpkin off the shelf of my local Publix and I will use it all in the next couple of weeks.
I really wanted to make Pumpkin Bread Pudding last year, but never had the right occasion for what I felt, was a really rich dessert.
Then, this year, I ran across a pumpkin bread pudding recipe on smitten kitchen that she made using only whole milk. And a few eggs. One of the things that makes bread pudding so ridiculously rich is the fact that most of the time cream is involved and lots of egg yolks. This recipe made it seem almost healthy. (don't laugh!)

I just happened to have a leftover baguette from when I bought the ingredients for this,
so it just seemed like the perfect time to make the bread pudding.

I toasted my bread cubes in the oven before I threw this thing together, just so the bread would be completely dried out and crisp.
This turned out perfectly. I have made bread pudding before and my husband prefers that I call it something else because he thinks that the word "bread pudding" sounds digusting. So, we call it "French Toast Pie" for his benefit.
We tried a bite as soon as I pulled this out of the oven and it was good. We let it cool a little and added a dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream- really good. We let it rest a little while longer and tasted another bite- delicious. I put the leftovers in the fridge and they were delicious the next day and the day after that. My husband didn't taste it until 2 days later and he loved it cold, straight from the fridge. (with whipped cream)
I had my son reading the ingredients to me and we accidentally added 1 tsp of salt. It didn't matter. This still turned out fabulously.

Perfect.

Recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding
* I toasted my bread cubes in the oven at 400 degrees F, for about 8-10 minutes to make sure they were dried out and crispy
* I used only whole milk
* I added close to 1 cup of pumpkin
* this was really good right out if the oven, warm, at room temperature and cold- after sitting in the fridge for a couple days (yes, we tasted it at all those different times)

Wicked Good Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cups

My son somehow saw this post by Bakerella and decided we needed to make this dessert as soon as possible.
I thought it would be a fun one to celebrate school getting out and the beginning of our summer vacation.

The idea and recipe are from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids by Jill O'Connor. Somehow I totally missed this cookbook, although I do have the original Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, which happens to be the source of my husband's all-time favorite treat, Cheesecake Pops. A better picture can be seen in this post.

Back to the point- My son and I made the pudding on Sunday night. Yesterday we all made the chocolate cups and my kids consumed these for dessert last night. (I usually don't get posts of things I make up this quickly, but someone requested it)

I tasted a spoonful and thought that the chocolate pudding had the perfect mix of pb and chocolate flavor and it was just sweet enough. Smooth and silky. Everything chocolate pudding should be.
It does make enough to feed a small army. I should've halved or 1/3ed the recipe.


We used Baker's dipping chocolate for the cups- I would probably use a different kind of chocolate if I made these again.


The water balloons were impossible to blow up with your own lungs. I had to use a basketball hand pump to blow them up.
Naked pudding
Whipped cream and sprinkles added
Happy kids
Messy and fun treat

Recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding
* I used whole milk instead of half&half
* This makes a TON of pudding, especially when you are serving it in little chocolate cups

How-to for the Pudding Cups from Bakerella

Roasted Peach Ice Cream with Cardamom

A couple of weeks ago, I saw some tweets going around about ice cream making.
Tracey chose the flavor-Roasted Banana Ice Cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, , and a couple of us joined in- Kayte , Margaret and me.
Except, I didn't have any bananas, so I made Roasted Peach Ice Cream instead.
It is pretty fun to bake/cook/ice cream make along with other people who are on twitter. You can share pics (like the delicious one Tracey took of her bananas getting ready to roast, covered in brown sugar) and talk about how the process is coming along.
This recipe was fairly simple. You roast the peaches or bananas with brown sugar in the oven, blend the fruit with whole milk, lemon juice, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Then you let the mixture chill in the fridge and then you churn. I added a dash of cardamom because I love it and also because I had just made Dorie's Dimply Peach Cake which combines peaches and cardamom and they go great together.
I took the pics before the ice cream had firmed up all the way, so the scoop is looking pretty messy. oh well- this was delicious ice cream!
The roasted banana flavor got mixed reviews- mainly that it was really banana-y. Needed some kind of topping, like peanut butter or something. I might just have to make the banana version-sounds like a pretty good excuse to make peanut butter ice cream topping!

You can find the recipe for Roasted Banana Ice Cream on Tracey's blog

One Year Ago-Fresh Peach Ice Cream in Cinnamon Sugar WonTon Cups

Rice Pudding Cake with Blueberry-Peach Compote

My younger brother had a birthday this past week. I told him a couple of weeks ago to find a cake he wanted me to make for his birthday celebration. We looked at a couple of things together and then he told me he wanted a cake made out of oats with rice pudding in between the layers. Gross? Yeah. I told him I didn't think that was going to work.
So, then I thought that maybe I could find a rice pudding cake. Sure enough, I searched on epicurious.com, and found this Rice Pudding Cake that appeared in Bon Appetit Magazine about 12 years ago.
I decided this was the cake for Andrew.
I know it might sound a little strange, but it was a huge success.
You just make rice pudding as you normally would on the stovetop, let it cool a bit and add a egg yolk/sugar mixture. You let that cool a little and then add in the egg whites that have been beaten to stiff peaks. Then you bake the "cake" in the oven for an hour and it becomes firm enough that you can slice it into cake slices.
The compote originally called for cherries and apricots, but I had blueberries and peaches in the freezer, so I just used those. It was delicious.
For any of you rice pudding lovers, you should really try this take on rice pudding!

Rice Pudding Cake with Cherry-Apricot Compote Bon Appétit May 1997
(TORTA DI RISO CON COMPOSTA DI CILIEGE E ALBICOCCHE)
Yield: Makes 10 to 12 servings
4 1/2 cups whole milk

1 cup arborio rice or medium-grain rice

Pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

1/2 cup chopped blanched slivered almonds (about 2 ounces)

1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel (I used crystallized ginger)

2 teaspoons (packed) grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

4 large eggs, separated

Powdered sugar

*Cherry-Apricot Compote

Bring milk to boil in heavy large saucepan. Stir in rice and salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until most of milk is absorbed and mixture is thick but still creamy, stirring frequently, about 30 minutes (mixture will resemble thick rice pudding). Add 1/2 cup sugar and stir 2 minutes. Remove mixture from heat and cool to lukewarm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter 10-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 1/2-inch-high sides. Dust pan with breadcrumbs. Mix almonds, candied orange peel, lemon peel and almond extract into rice mixture. Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl to blend. Stir into rice mixture.

Cool completely.

Beat egg whites in large bowl until stiff peaks form. Fold whites into rice mixture in 2 additions. Transfer mixture to prepared pan. Bake until cake is golden and firm to touch, about 1 hour. Transfer to rack and cool completely in pan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
Run small sharp knife around cake to loosen. Release pan sides from cake. Place cake on platter. Sift powdered sugar over cake. Cut into wedges and serve with Cherry-Apricot Compote.

*Cherry-Apricot Compote Bon Appétit May 1997
(COMPOSTA DI CILIEGE E ALBICOCCHE)
Delicious with the Rice Pudding Cake or with biscotti or vanilla ice cream.

Yield: Makes 6 servings
1 1/4 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 cup dry white wine (I used white grape juice)

2 teaspoons grated orange peel (I used lime peel)

1 1/2 pounds apricots, halved, pitted, sliced, or one 1-pound package frozen sliced peaches (no sugar added) (I used frozen peaches)

1 1/4 pounds fresh Bing cherries, pitted, or one 1-pound package frozen pitted dark sweet cherries (no sugar added) (I used frozen blueberries)

Combine first 4 ingredients in heavy large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Bring to boil. Add apricots and cherries; simmer until fruit is tender, about 5 minutes. Transfer to bowl.

Chill until cold, about 2 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)

Coming Tomorrow- Whole Wheat Pitas

Reduced Milk with Cardamom and Mango

I can't even begin to describe how delicious this was! It completely hit the spot as a great dessert after the tofu. We ate it warm and it was sooo good! A couple of people sprinkled cinnamon on top, but I stuck with the cardamom. You have got to try this- seriously it is amazingly delicious! Take it from someone who is not a fan of rice pudding!
Reduced Milk with Cardamom and Mango from Cooking Light
6 cups whole milk

1/3 cup uncooked basmati rice

1/2 cup nonfat sweetened condensed milk

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped peeled mango (about 2 large)

1. Combine whole milk and basmati rice in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium, and gently boil 40 minutes or until mixture thickens. (Mixture will be a chowderlike consistency.) Stir in sweetened condensed milk, cardamom, and salt; cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Spoon 1/2 cup rice mixture into each of 8 dessert bowls. Top each serving with 1/4 cup chopped mango.