Fat Tuesday Dessert: Bread Pudding with Grand Marnier Caramel Sauce

I feel like my new knowledge is dangerous for my waistline. That knowledge is: I had everything I needed to make this dessert and didn't know it. Well, now I know. I can make bread pudding and caramel sauce pretty much any time I please. I sort of wish it had been more difficult to make...maybe that would deter me.

Alas, it was Fat Tuesday and I decided Brent and I needed to celebrate. So I added bourbon to a pasta dish, aptly named it Bourbon Street Salmon Pasta, and then created one of the tastiest desserts ever! This made enough (well a little more than enough) for the two of us. We also had leftover sauce...I've decreased the amount in my version below.

Bread Pudding with Grand Marnier Caramel Sauce
3 1/2 slices stale French bread
1 1/2 Tbsp melted margarine
2 eggs
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sauce:
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp margarine
1 Tbsp Grand Marnier

Tear bread into bite-sized cubes and place in shallow baking dish and drizzle with melted margarine. In a bowl, mix together the remaining pudding ingredients. Pour over bread and press down to make sure each piece is soaking. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, until bread springs back and no longer looks "eggy."

In small sauce pan, heat sauce ingredients, stirring occasionally.

Top bread pudding with sauce and whipped cream.

Next time I'll put less sauce on our portions, but as I said, I made too much this time. I'll also add pecans to the bread pudding. I know many people like raisins, but Brent doesn't like them, so I'll pass on that addition.

Side note: If you don't stale bread, simply put the torn pieces into a 250 degree F oven for about 10 minutes. That should dry them out enough to soak up all the pudding. 

Perfect Dessert Hunt Complete

My hunt for the perfect dessert yielded one of the best sweet treats I've ever made...well, besides my Tres Leches Cake, which I'll save for a later post. I'm not the world's best baker; Brent can vouch for that based on a Valentine's Day Red Velvet cake flop. But I can certainly cook, so I guess he can trade baking for cooking--if we need delicious pies with homemade crusts and perfect cakes, we'll just call up his sisters.

Back to the subject...here's the recipe for the mini-cheesecakes adapted from Cook's Country Magazine.

Mini Raspberry and Strawberry Cheesecakes

12 Keebler Sandies cookies (they fit perfectly into muffin tins--I used Pecan Sandies because I love pecans)
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
1/4 cup strawberry jam (I used sugar-free because I had it on hand)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
6 fresh raspberries
3 fresh strawberries

Heat oven to 300. Line a muffin pan with 12 liners. Place one cookie in the bottom of each liner. I decided to do half as strawberry and half as raspberry, so place 1 tsp of raspberry jam on top of 6 cookies and 1 tsp strawberry jam on the other 6 cookies.

Strawberry Jam on cookies

In a bowl, mix cream cheese at medium speed for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add condensed milk and mix 1 minute, scraping down sides as necessary. Add one egg at a time, beating another two minutes until well combined and smooth. Divide mixture evenly among liners. Bake 20 minutes, until cheesecakes are set--there should be no jiggle. Let cool about 20 minutes before removing from pan, placing in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Baked cheesecakes--light and fluffy

Microwave remaining jams for about 10 seconds until more liquid. Top each cheesecake with corresponding dollop of jam. Place one fresh raspberry on each raspberry filled cheesecake and place 1/2 of fresh strawberry on each strawberry filled cheesecake.

Makes 12 cheesecakes. I didn't count points. :) 

 

I had to mark the half of my pan with raspberry filling so I could tell them apart once they were baked. Then I placed the raspberry cheesecakes in a different container to cool. Otherwise I would have mixed them up before I topped them.

These were a huge hit with everyone who tried them! I'm planning to make them again for my PEO dessert next week, in a double batch. I may add in a blueberry flavor next time--red white and blue. So easy to do!

Crepes, Empanadas, and Cream Puffs--Oh My!

As mentioned in my "Sushi and Cream Puffs" post, I had a card for a free cream puff burning a hole in my pocket. After finding out that Rocky Treats had more than just cream puffs (things like sweet and savory crepes) I decided Brent and I should visit for brunch. The location was very plain and simple with just about six tables and one carafe of coffee available. But once the charming owner came out, we forgot all about the humble surroundings.

We chose two sweet crepes, an empanada and our free cream puff. The spicy beef empanada wasn't a traditional version--rather than being baked, the dough and filling where steamed to perfection. I could have eaten three of them, but instead I had one half after generously giving Brent the other half. My crepe choice, the blueberry and cream cheese, was the best. His banana and nutella was really good, but we both wished the banana had been cut into more manageable slices. And the green tea cream puff was made fresh in front of us. WOW! All that (the cream puff was free, mind you) was something ridiculous like $11.50.

We'll be back and we'll probably order one of each of the empanada flavors. And maybe one sweet crepe to share. I hope all my south suburban friends make the trip to Rocky Treats--its worth the trip!

The spicy beef empanada--this alone will bring me back for more!

Brent's banana nutella crepe

"Best in Show"--blueberry cream cheese crepe

The green tea cream puff. There are no words to describe a fresh cream puff!