Bread Pudding with Pecan Praline Sauce

Run, do not walk, to your kitchen and make this recipe IMMEDIATELY. If you are a fan of bread pudding, this recipe will throw you over the edge of insanity with its deliciousness...if you don't really like bread pudding, make it anyway. You will change your mind!

I first tasted this recipe at Famous Dave's BBQ. Once I went searching on the internet, I found this recipe circulating. It came directly from Famous Dave's website and I did not change it - it really didn't need changing at all.

The pecan-praline sauce is AMAZING. Truly. One big note about the recipe, though, is that is says "makes about 4 cups." I don't know what kind of "cups" Ol' Famous Dave uses, but when I made it, it was about 12 cups. But, I didn't mind one bit. I've since used the sauce over vanilla ice cream and over french toast and gone into a praline coma. Feel free to do the same!



Bread Pudding
1 (1 1/2-pound) loaf cinnamon egg bread (*See Note Below!)
2/3 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 cups milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup vanilla extract
8 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Spray the bottom and sides of a 13X9 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Tear the bread into 1-inch pieces. Mix with the raisins in a bowl. Spread the bread mixture evenly in the prepared dish, turning crust side down as this tends to burn easily. Whisk the sugar, milk, 2 cups whipping cream, vanilla, eggs and cinnamon in a bowl until blended. Pour over the bread mixture.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the baking dish in a 4-inch deep baking pan. Add water to reach halfway up sides of the baking dish. Bake for 1 hour.

Remove from water bath. Let stand for 20 minutes. Serve while still warm. Drizzle each serving with warm Ol’ Southern Plantation Praline Sauce (recipe below). Top with whipped cream and add a scoop of ice cream if desired.

Yield: 9 enormous servings

*Try as I might, but I could not find "cinnamon egg bread." Instead, I used a loaf of Challah bread with raisins that I found at my local grocery store. Then I just added a little more cinnamon to the mix. Hope this helps!

Pecan-Praline Sauce
2 cups unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
3 pounds light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat 1 cup of the butter in a large saucepan until melted. Add the pecans and mix well. Bring to a boil. Cook until the pecans begin to change color. Be careful! This mixture will foam over, so use a large saucepan.

Add the remaining 1 cup butter and mix well. This will cool the pecan mixture and stop the cooking process. Remove from heat.

Combine brown sugar, whipping cream and cinnamon in a saucepan and mix well. Cook over low heat until blended, stirring constantly; increase heat. Cook to 230 degrees on a candy thermometer. Stir in pecan mixture. Add sour cream and vanilla and mix well. Remove from heat. Yield: 4 cups (not really, see note above!)

Apple Cake with Homemade Caramel Sauce

Recently, I found some amazing apples on sale at my grocery store. Normally, I see apple desserts as more of a Autumn comfort food, but I just couldn't resist. I decided to make homemade Apple Cake. Once I made it, I decided to go on caloric overload and add some homemade caramel sauce. Oh man....the cake was pretty great on it's own, but the caramel sauce really did me in. It was so simple, too. Eat this cake heated with the caramel sauce and some vanilla ice cream and you're in Heaven....

Apple Cake with Homemade Caramel Sauce

1/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 /2 tsp. baking powder
1 /2 tsp. salt
1 /2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 /2 tsp. ground nutmeg or mace
1 /2 tsp. ground ginger
3 cups peeled, diced tart apples

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. With an electric or hand mixer, cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture slowly, in batches. Stir in apples. Spoon into greased 8X8 pan.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.

Optional: Add 1/4 cup chopped nuts to recipe at same time as apples.

*Note: this recipe is for an 8X8 pan but could easily be doubled for a 13X9


Homemade Caramel Sauce
makes about 1 1/2 cups

1/2 C water
1 C sugar
1 C heavy cream, at room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Place the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, uncover and continue to boil until the mixture is thick and the color of straw, about 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until the mixture is a deep amber color, about 1-2 minutes more.

Remove the mixture from the heat. Very carefully, pour about one quarter of the cream into it (the mixure will bubble vigorously). Add the remaining cream, salt, vanilla, and the lemon juice. Whisk until the sauce is smooth.

The sauce can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks. Reheat in a microwave or in a small saucepan until warm and smooth.

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen.

Food for the Soul

I know it's been over a month (eek!) since I've last posted. Things got really busy with the baby and holiday orders for decorated cookies....more on that in a bit*....

But, worry-not my faithful readers, I have a stockpile of really delicious recipes coming your way - just in time for the Holidays! Appetizers, pie, desserts, and dinners galore!

I can't promise it will be good for your waistline,
but food is always good for your soul.

So sit back, relax, and get ready for a barrage of new recipes! :)

* I've also started taking orders for decorated sugar cookies in my local area, hence, the lag in blogging. Now that things have calmed a bit, I plan to be back at it very soon. I am even considering a separate page on this blog to showcase the cookies I've made :)

Beer Bread

While making beef stew, I realized that I needed a hearty bread to go with it. I am not a typical bread-maker, so I wanted something quick and easy. I remember LOVING the Tastefully Simple beer bread, but didn't have any on hand. A quick internet search (what would we do without Google?!) and I found a "copycat" recipe that I thought looked pretty good.

Turns out, this version is really close to the original. I couldn't really tell any difference, so I will be making this from now on....much cheaper than actually buying the TS kit too!!

Beer Bread

3 C. self rising flour
1/2 C. sugar
12 oz. beer (seasonal or flavored beers are great, but any beer will do! You can also use another carbonated drink if you don't have any beer on hand)
3 Tbs. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, sugar, and beer. Mix just until combined. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. Pour melted butter over the batter and bake for 55-60 minutes.

Homestyle Beef Stew

With summer officially over and fall making way toward the colder months of winter, I am really excited to start cooking some hearty fall meals. One of my all-time favorites is beef stew. This one-pot meal is a great Sunday night dinner because the longer you allow the meat to cook, the more tender it is.

While this isn't a quick meal, it's definitely worth the wait. Plus, the smells that fill your house are warm, comforting, and make you look forward to dinner (and leftovers!)

Homestyle Beef Stew

2 lbs. lean beef (round steak is a good choice here)
4 tsp. salt, divided

3 tsp. pepper, divided
2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 lg. can tomato sauce
2 C. water
3 bay leaves
1/2 C. good quality red wine (use anything that you'd drink by the glass - and pour yourself a glass while you're at it!)
4-6 potatoes (I like Yukon gold or baby red potatoes - no need to peel these!), cubed
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 package of frozen peas

Heat oil in a large dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pot. Sprinkle meat with 1 tsp. pepper and 2 tsp. salt. Brown the meat until well seared. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits as you stir. Add the tomato sauce, water, salt and pepper, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer 1 hour.

Add the potatoes, carrots, and onion. Cook on low until the potatoes and carrots are cooked through. Add the frozen peas and turn off the stew. Find and remove the bay leaves. Serve with beer bread or cornbread. Enjoy!

*Note - if you feel like your stew is too thin, or you don't have enough time to properly simmer the stew to thicken it, you can mix 2 Tb. of cornstarch with water and add the the stew. This will thicken it without altering the taste or texture.