****Chocolate Bread Pudding

It wasn't easy with so many great choices to choose from, however this sweet thing had just the right ring.  I love bread and I love chocolate. Bread and chocolate. Wasn't that a movie? Easily, this could be my one meal to take to a desert (or dessert!) island. Luxurious.

For years, frugal homemakers saved leftover stale bread and moistened the cut up bite sized bread with egg, milk and sugar. A thrifty way to use up yesterday's bread. So, first the bread. Home made, or good quality bakery brioche. Additionally,  I noticed on the P&Qs, challah, croissants, doughnuts and cinnamon rolls were creative choices for this as well. Wow, I want to try them all.



For the chocolate, semi sweet is the way to go. To get great flavor and value, Trader Joe's Pound Plus 72% dark chocolate is where I put my money. Cube the bread, moisten and soak with the pudding mixture. Bake.

Thanks for baking along with me this week. Also, Upper East Side is moving.....I'm heading west to the Upper West Side. Name is changed to A Baking Blog. See you now and see you then.

Four-Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

Adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours
By Dorie Greenspan

12 ounces bread (brioche, challah or white), preferably stale

1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cherries (optional)

3 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cram

3 large eggs

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

GETTING READY:

Have a 9-x-13 inch baking pan at hand (a Pyrex pan is perfect here), as well as a roasting pan big enough to hold the baking pan and how water.  Line the roasting pan with a double thickness of paper towels

Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes.  It the bread is stale, put it and the raisins or cherries, if you are using them, into the baking pan.  If it is not stale, spread it out on a a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat and bake in a 350-degree-F oven to "stale" it for 10 minutes, then toss into the pan (with the fruit).

Bring the milk and cream just to a boil.

Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.   Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, yolks an d sugar together in a bow.  Still whisking, slowly drizzle in about one quarter of the hot milk mixture--this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they don't curdle.  Whisking all the while slowly pour in the rest of the hot milk.  Add the chocolate and whisk it in gently until it is melted and the custard is smooth.   Rap the bowl against the counter to pop bubbles that might have formed, then pour the custard over the bread and press the bread gently with the back of a spoon to help cover it with liquid.  Leave the pan on the counter, giving the bread the back-of-the-spoon treatment now and then, for 30 minutes.

GETTING READY TO BAKE:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. F.  

Slide the pan setup into the oven and very carefully pour enough how water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the pudding pan.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the pudding is uniformly puffed, the top is dull and dry and a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.   Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

15 Minute Chocolate Amaretti Torte: TWD

I'm so glad TWD Holly, of Phe/MOM/enon selected this chocolate torte to bake this week. Cakes usually made with ground nuts are tortes and this made a perfect choice for the Passover holiday. The name of the cake really says what it is. 15 minutes! Done.  Quicker to make than to run out and buy. Almonds throughout  Almost fudge-like, like brownies.  Balanced in flavor. Almond and chocolate. The torte's flavor gets its intensity with the crumbled Amaretti di Saronno almond meringue cookies. Those are usually found in Italian specialty stores in bright red tins.  An additional splash of Disaronno liquor was added for good measure.  Almond whipped cream is dolloped on top. Check out  Dorie's  post where she suggests making waffles with the same flavors. 


Bake along with me next week as I select the Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding, on pages 410 and 411. Upper East Side Chronicle will also be moving to a new site A Baking Blog.
Till then.

Plum Delicious: TWD

Chocolate Armagnac Cake is really a chocolaty, boozy, nutty, dried pitted plum, fudge cake! A plum prize for a special dining event.

Hosted by TWD baker LyB Of then I Do the Dishes

Cover Cake: TWD

Pink (White)out cake was the selection from Stephanie, Confessions of a City Eater for Valentine's Day. My guys loved it. The devil's food cake is a riff on my beloved Brooklyn Blackout cake from the famed Ebinger's bakery. The cake is too perfect for this world. Cocoa flavor with layers of light, airy marshmallow and a crunchy crumb coating outside. Heaven. The traditional Blackout had a chocolate pudding filling. That was good too.

Baking is fairly straightforward....Dry ingredients, fluff butter and sugar, add eggs, alternate buttermilk and dry ingredients. Bake, cool, unmold, chill, split. Bake the crumbs at 250 for 1 hour.

Frosting. Separate room temperature whites and start the mixer on low to break up the eggs. While this is in motion, mix sugar, water in SMALL saucepan (with candy thermometer) over med-high heat. When the sugar boils, cover and boil for three minutes. Now start to pay attention. After 3 minutes lower heat and watch the temperature rise AND increase speed on the mixer, making sure the whites remain glossy. Do NOT over beat. Once the mercury climbs to 230 (this does take time) get in the ready position to pour the HOT liquid into the mixer, straight down in the space between the beater and the bowl. Hard work is done, a little over 15 minutes....mix, mix, mix until bottom of the bowl feels like room temperature. How fluffy.

Fill and frost, you're done!

Cookie of State: TWD

If only that simple. The cocoa, chocolate chunk, salt, and texture brings everyone together towards the common goal; peace. I propose World Peace Cookie to act as Special Peace Envoy. Suppose its mission is to promote solutions for peace, and as an ambassador, travel around the globe. How nice. Dorie, want to sign on?



Credits:
Tuesdays With Dorie
COOKBOOKHABIT

Spice Girl

I've done better. Didn't get to the oven in time, about five minutes too late. No time for a do-over. With colds and sniffles in the house, re-baking them were not going to happen. So sorry TWD and Heather.


Gingerbread cake is sprinkled with fresh ginger and chopped chocolate in a cocoa spice cake is just the thing for a cold winter evening. Glazed with a creamy chocolate icing.


I'm sure the other bakers fared well. Till next time.

Piece of Cake

These Chocolate-Chocolate cupcakes are a perfect balance of flavors. Moist cocoa mini cakes, dipped in bittersweet chocolate. Layers of flavor.


Scooped out chilled cake is filled in with whipped marshmallow fluff... and butter.


Careful not to overbake these little ones.




After a dip in the glaze, a roll in the sanding sugar adds to the autumn look. Thank you iheartfood4thought for this selection. Check out the other TWD posts this week.

Another Cookie

The Tuesdays With Dorie book club is on to another cookie. Claudia from Fool for Food selected Chocolate Chunkers. A cookie with pedigree!


The cookie is an alluring array of chocolates. This flavor eruption blends together SIX types of chocolates that were already in the pantry; Valrhona cocoa powder, Trader Joe's bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate, Santander, a current favorite in semi-sweet, Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips, and Lindt white chocolate chopped into chunks.


It is studded with peanuts and raisins. Scoop, chill and bake.


Unfortunately, it is rather turd like in looks, however it is pretty delicious.


I guess appearances can be deceiving.

Banana-fana-fo-fana

As a child, some of the sweets my mother and I used to bake were banana breads and marble cakes. The marble cake was so good that we would beg her to bake it for family occasions, which she did. It was full of chocolate and so swirly-pretty to look at. The recipe was from the Settlement House cookbook, the bible many housewives used when planning family meals.


This September, my mother is planning a visit to celebrate her birthday. Living in Florida, she will only visit when the weather is warm, above 70°. This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Black–and-White Banana Loaf from the Baking From My Home to Yours bible.




For her birthday cake, this combo might just do.



Now, to decide on presentation.



Option A: loaf or maybe a Bundt...but needs something,


Option B: coffee ice cream a' la mode,





Option C: Hot Gritty NYC aka Baked Alaska.



Thoughts?

Brownie Square

I confess, it all started a year ago. It was my first recipe from Dorie's weighty tome Baking: From My Home To Yours. It's also this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) assignment. I do love brownies. A year ago, The NY Times' Julia Moskin, wrote about brownies. It was a throw down, bake-off or whatever you want to call it. For me, it's about the fudge. I baked all day. The above photo is the Dorie recipe, plated with Haagen-Dazs rum raisin ice cream, butterscotch sauce that was in my fridge and a couple of Raisinets for good measure.

The set-up
Three brownie recipes, by three different chocolate gurus. Nick Malgieri, Dori Greenspan and Alice Medrich. It's the usual butter- sugar-egg combo and chocolate, only better. It's technique. Bake and vote....no super delegates, just the popular vote. Kids, moms, dads, teachers. I know the winner. Make them all and you tell me. Results next week. In the meantime I think I’ll make a brownie cheesecake.


The three recipes:
SUPERNATURAL BROWNIES
Adapted from ''Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers''

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional.

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.
2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.
Yield: 15 large or 24 small brownies.
Note: For best flavor, bake 1 day before serving, let cool and store, tightly wrapped.

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
Adapted from ''Baking: From My Home to Yours''
makes 16 brownies
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!
Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

NEW CLASSIC BROWNIES
Adapted from ''Alice Medrich's Cookies and Brownies''

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts or pecans (optional).

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line an 8-inch-square metal baking pan with foil. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir often, and remove from heat when a few lumps remain. Stir until smooth.
2. Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir in eggs one at a time, followed by flour. Stir until very smooth, about 1 minute, until mixture pulls away from sides of bowl. Add nuts, if using. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare a water bath: Pour ice water into a large roasting pan or kitchen sink to a depth of about 1 inch. Remove pan from oven and place in water bath, being careful not to splash water on brownies. Let cool completely, then lift out and cut into 1-inch squares or wrap in foil.
Yield: 16 brownies.

The taste.
Have a glass of ice-cold milk (or a scoop of vanilla ice cream)