Tuesday, February 8, 2011

(not) Bourbon bread pudding

I topped it with some blood orange segments and caramel
Bread pudding is a great way to use up slightly stale bread, but if you rarely have bread in the house it's not so convenient. After baking with TWD last week and getting such a warm welcome back I really didn't want to miss this week. Of course, things never work out quite the way I expect. I had a lovely weekend of visiting friends, eating out and skating on the canal. After work today, I skated home (about 6 km/4 miles) on a very soft and slushy canal, put on some comfy clothes and settled in to relax. I did relax, for about 5 minutes, until I realized I didn't have any bread for the bread pudding. I was so reluctant to get dressed and go back outside that I started gathering the ingredients to make a loaf of bread. This seemed perfectly reasonable to me, until I discovered I was out of yeast too. Not having the time to gather wild yeast, I moped for a couple of minutes, then looked in the freezer and found some little crumpets I had made for the poached egg challenge a couple of months ago. So, here's what I did: I quartered the recipe, except for the booze. I doubled that. Wouldn't you, at this point? I used mostly milk and skipped the extra egg yolks. Instead of bourbon I used my favourite heavily spiced rum/extrait antillais. It tastes of vanilla, mace, sapote and tonka beans. I made 2 little ramekins, and ate one for dessert. If you see a picture with this post, it means the other little bread pudding survived the night. How was it? Absolutely delicious! Thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for choosing this recipe. As always, she'll have the recipe for you, and you can see who else baked this week by heading to the Tuesdays with Dorie site.
The homemade mini crumpets

21 comments:

Peggy the Baker said...

I like your adaptability and perseverance! Lovely crumpets!

Paula said...

Homemade crumpets? That's the recipe I want.

Valerie Gamine said...

You're the Macgyver of the baking world! Nicely done. :D

Crumpets are so delicious on their own, I can't even imagine how great they taste doused with rum!

cocoa and coconut said...

Well done for your quick thinking! That's an idea we can all use

Unknown said...

I love a nice crumpet

Evelyne CulturEatz said...

Very creative under the circumstances and totally agree about not reducing the booze amount. Great booze choice too!

Too cool skating back home, except for the slush.

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for crumpets in the freezer! Your creative version of the bread pudding looks delicious.

TeaLady said...

How wonderfully creative. Great come back with these last two recipes. I would never have thought of using crumpets. And love the piced rum idea.

Jacque said...

I love it when there's built in portion control.... a good thing with this yummy recipe. Your little puddings are adorable and sound delish. Good job being creative and getting it done.

Bella Baker said...

i love how resourceful you are!! Great job!!!

Anonymous said...

Your blood oranges really pop! Great post!

Tia said...

that is pretty dang impressive! love the presentation too. I didnt' do teh bread pudding. I did sour cream chocolate cake cookies by DORIE instead.

Flourchild said...

I could so eat that with a hot cup of chai tea! Yum it looks so good!!

Joy said...

They're gorgeous!!! The blood orange and caramel sounds incredible. I love your story, too. I hate leaving in the winter, too, especially after getting all cozy. :)

Unknown said...

Everything in your post just sounds incredible...from the special rum to the blood oranges to the mini crumpets!

RamblingTart said...

Your crumpets are adorable, Mary! I love how you used what you had and made an even better bread pudding than you started out to make. :-) Beautiful!

A Canadian Foodie said...

HOLY CRAP, Mary! Excuse the language - but the blood orange looks so yummy. The bread pudding would be delicious. I love a good bread pudding. The crumpets look adorable.
I didn't see any recipes. I will check again, but did you mean to post them?
:)
Valerie

Nichicakes said...

that just looks incredibly good!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

you can skate home on a canal? that's so cool! i love crumpets...i must try making them myself. i ofter do a crumpet-based french toast thingie, so i can imagine they would make great sponges for bread pudding custard.

Brownieville Girl said...

Love Valerie's comment about you being the McGuyver of the cooking world ... totally agree!

Looks yummy.

Anonymous said...

http://image-source.net/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=205327
Stupid facebook gave me some nasty viruses. When I logged on, it started popping up very inappropriate sites that I didn't want to see. It won't let me open ANYTHING without giving me an error message. I tried to open an anti-virus program but it won't let me do that either. It keeps popping up a phony virus system that it says I need to buy, but it's a scam. I've already purchased AVG and it's up to date. I tried logging into a different account on my computer and doing a scan, but the scan is coming back with nothing. I know there is crap on here, I just have to find a way to get around it so I can get it off. I need some help. This is so frustrating. :/ (oh, I have Microsoft Windows. A newer version.)