Friday, July 8, 2011

Cinnamon Bread Pudding with Caramelized Apples/Pears, Candied Walnuts, & Streusel Topping

Comment -I found my inspiration for this recipe at the Portland City Grill. They have an amazing bread pudding on their menu. I think my recreation of the recipe turned out great. I would recommend serving it with vanilla ice cream. I also think it tastes best an hour or so out of the oven. 

10-14 slices of Cinnamon bread
2 caramelized apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 caramelized pears, peeled, cored, and diced
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 egg white
3 cups milk (1%), scalded
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp salted butter, melted
1 ½ cup Candied Walnuts


Streusel topping

Directions;
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 11″ x 13″ pan
2.
Cut bread slices into 1″ cubes (don’t remove crust). Toss in melted butter, and then mix in candied walnuts, diced pears & apples. Lay into baking pan.
3. Scald the milk by heating over medium heat until just starting to bubble at the edges (do not let boil!). Remove from heat immediately. 

4. Beat together eggs, egg white, sugar, and vanilla. Slowly stir in milk. 

5. Slowly ladle the milk mixture over the bread cubes in the baking pan, making sure to coat all the bread. The liquid should come up to just short of the rim of the pan. Let bread soak in milk mixture for 10 minutes.

6. Sprinkle Streusel topping over the top and bake for 35 minutes, or until bread bounces back and liquid does not ooze out when pushed with a spoon. Serve warm with ice cream

 
Caramelized Apples
1 cups sugar
1 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 apples (Fuji)

2 pears (you can use a can of pears and drain the juice)

1 1/2 tablespoons butter


For the apples & pears: Combine the sugar, salt, vanilla and spices in a bowl
Peel the apples & pears and cut down through the core into quarters. Lay each quarter on a cut side and slice away the core at an angle. Cut each cored piece in half. Place the apple & pear pieces in a large bowl and sprinkle the sugar mixture over the top. With your hands, combine the sugar with apples & pears until they are well coated. Set aside for 15 minutes, and then remix. The fruit should have started to release liquid and the mixture should be wet
In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over a high flame. When the butter is bubbling, pour the apple & pear mixture into the pan (being careful to avoid splattering). Begin to stir and flip the apples & pears in the pan until the sugar starts to color. Continue flipping and/or stirring carefully to caramelize the fruit evenly and avoid burnt spots. The fruit will become fairly dark; this is OK. When the fruit is evenly dark, pour in enough water to submerge apples & pears halfway and turn the flame down to medium-high. Cook, tossing and stirring the fruit every so often, until the liquid is thick syrup. Check the fruit to see if it is cooked through, if not, add a little more water and cook down again. Remove apples & pears from heat
Mix only the caramelized apples & pears into the bread pudding. I do not use the caramel sauce left over but you can if you want. I think the dessert is already sweet enough without it. 

 
Candied Walnuts
1 1/2 cup whole Walnuts
1 tablespoon egg whites

1/4 sugar

1/8 teaspoon Allspice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Oil or butter the pan. In a small dish, mix together the sugar & spices. In another bowl, combine the walnuts & egg white until they are evenly coated; sprinkle on sugar mixture to make sure it gets mixed in evenly. Bake for 8 min. Remove from oven. Allow to cool on baking sheet, stirring to prevent sticking and to separate the nuts.

Streusel topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon Allspice

½ cup Flour

¼ cup butter (room temperature)

Mix everything together to form bread crumb looking consistency. Sprinkle over the top of the bread pudding before baking.
Caramelizing Apple Source

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