MawMaw's Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce

• 4 cups (8 slices) cubed white bread 

• 1/2 cup raisins 

• 2 cups milk 

• 1/4 cup butter 

• 1/2 cup sugar 

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten 

• 1 tablespoon vanilla 

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

 Sauce Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter 

• 1/2 cup sugar 

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream 

• 1 tablespoon vanilla 

 Directions for Pudding: 

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine bread and raisins in large bowl. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted (4 to 7 minutes). Pour milk mixture over bread; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in all remaining pudding ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set in center. Directions for Sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in vanilla. To serve, spoon warm pudding into individual dessert dishes; serve with sauce. Store refrigerated

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding with Vanilla sauce

• 4 cups (8 slices) cubed white bread
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Sauce Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions for Pudding:
Heat oven to 350°F. Combine bread and raisins in large bowl. Combine milk and 1/4 cup butter in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted (4 to 7 minutes). Pour milk mixture over bread; let stand 10 minutes. 
Stir in all remaining pudding ingredients. Pour into greased 1 1/2-quart casserole. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until set in center. 

Directions for Sauce:
Combine all sauce ingredients except vanilla in 1-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil (5 to 8 minutes). Stir in vanilla. 
To serve, spoon warm pudding into individual dessert dishes; serve with bread pudding. Store in the fridge. 

Those cornbread thingies

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Add water to mix (not too thick)

 Salt and baking powder or just an estimate since I just spoon them. I use Crisco shortening to cook them. The secret is to keep grease in the pan to give better flavor.  I spoon out tablespoon sizes. You can make a smaller batches, just make flour and corn meal the same amount and sugar half of the amount. Add salt and baking powder accordingly. Enjoy. 

Try frying these in bacon grease.  These are good served with chili or anywhere you would serve cornbread. 

Ingredients

Rolls
1 package (8 count) refrigerated crescent rolls
4 oz. cream cheese, cold
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
¼ tsp. lemon extract
zest of ½ lemon

Glaze
1 c. powdered sugar
1½ Tbsp. lemon juice
zest of ½ lemon

Instructions
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, granulated sugar, lemon extract, and lemon zest.
Beat on medium-high speed until mixture comes together.
Unroll crescent roll dough into triangles; spoon cream cheese filling onto wider end of each triangle.
Gently roll the dough, starting with the wider end and tucking the corners, into crescent shapes.
Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased or parchment -lined baking sheet.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
Let rolls cool on a wire rack.
Once cool, prepare glaze by combining all ingredients until smooth.
Drizzle glaze evenly over rolls.

7 up biscuits

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups Bisquick
1 cup sour cream
1 cup 7-up
1/2 cup melted butter

DIRECTIONS:
Mix Bisquick, sour cream and 7 up. Dough will be very soft - don't worry. Knead and fold dough until coated with your baking mix. Pat dough out and cut biscuits using a round biscuit / cookie cutter. Melt butter in bottom of cookie sheet pan or 9x13 casserole dish. Place biscuits on top of melted butter and bake @ 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until brown.

Southern Fried Cornbread

2/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup self rising flour
1/3 cup low fat buttermilk
1 large egg
oil for frying (I used about 3 tbsps coconut oil, but you can use whatever you like)

Combine first 4 ingredients together in a bowl, mixing well. Mixture should be very moist but not soupy. Heat oil in skillet and drop by spoonfuls into oil. Cook til brown on one side and flip (it cooks kind of like a pancake) to brown on the other side. Place on plate with paper towels and blot any excess oil.

Easy bread pudding

6 small sandwich rolls- preferably 3-6 days old
4 eggs
1 cup of milk
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease or butter a casserole dish generously and preheat over to 350 degrees.
Tear rolls into small 1" bits. These don't need to be uniform, and don't stress if some are bigger than others. Place into casserole dish.
In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk.
When well mixed, pour over bread in casserole dish.
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown and puffy.
Serve hot with syrup or on its own- bread pudding will deflate the longer it is out of the oven.

Scones

• 2 3/4 cups flour 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (not baking soda!)
• 1/2 cup cold butter (1 cube)
• 1 cup chopped dried fruit, flavored chips, nuts, or a combination, optional 
• 2 eggs, beaten with 1/2 cup half and half, milk, or cream and 1 tsp. extract of your choice (vanilla, orange, etc.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Work in the butter just until the mixture is crumbly; it's okay for some small chunks of butter to remain unincorporated. Stir in the fruit, chips, and/or nuts, if you're using them. (I like chopped craisins with orange extract.) Make a depression in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Stir until all is moistened and holds together.  If you need to add more moisture because your scones won't hold together, you can add up to 3 tbs. more cream (or 1/2 and 1/2, or milk, depending on what you used).

To bake:  I used my pampered chef stone to bake these, and sprayed on a little PAM on to make sure they didn't stick.  If you use a different type of pan, you can line it with parchment paper.  I prefer small scones, like the "mini" scones you can buy at the supermarket.  I took about half of the mixture at a time, formed it into a triangular shaped "tube," and sliced it about 3/4 of an inch thick so that each of the mini scones would be triangular shaped and would be nearly an inch thick when they were finished.  If you prefer large scones, divide the mixture into two parts, round each half into a 5-6 inch circle about 3/4 inch thick right on the baking stone or parchment-covered pan. Using a knife, cut each round into six wedges and pull the wedges away from each other so that there is about half an inch of space between them to allow for them to rise a bit.

You can brush your unbaked scones with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar before you bake them if you like.  (I didn't do this because I serve scones with clotted cream and lemon curd, so I didn't need to add the extra sweetness.)

Bake large scones at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Small scones are done quicker, they should be finished in 10 minutes, but all ovens are different so keep an eye on them and as soon as they are golden brown, take them out.  Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. When they're completely cool, store in covered container at room temperature for up to a week or so.  I actually had them for about 2 weeks and they were still fine.  However, they are best in the first few days of course.

No-knead bread

No Knead Bread Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible. 

1. 3 cups bread flour (If you add additional grains, increase yeast)
2. 1/4 teaspoon saf-instant yeast 
3. 1 teaspoon salt 
4. 1 1/2 cups warm water
5. Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.)

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.
2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With an oiled spatula, dump the dough onto an oiled surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands oiled so that the dough does not stick.  In the meantime, oil the bowl you used to mix the ingredients. Lift the dough and place into the  bowl. Cover bowl with a towel. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.
3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Lift entire wobbly dough blob out of bowl into pot. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F or makes a hollow sound when you tap it. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.

Quick Potato Lefse

2 cups water

2 cups instant potatoes (shake to settle)

3 tbs. shortening

3 tbs. butter

2 tsp. salt

1 tbs. sugar

Bring water to a boil.  Remove from heat and stir in instant potatoes, shortening, butter, salt, and sugar.  Cool.  For each cup of this mixture, add ½ cup of flour and divide into 4 portions.  (Keep remainder of potato mixture refrigerated until ready to use.)  Roll each portion into dinner-plate size, as thin as possible, using additional flour if needed.  (to aid in rolling it thin, use a grooved rolling pin with a sock and a pastry board covered with a pastry cloth.  Use a lefse stick to turn.

When lefse is as thin as possible, flip one end of the lefse over the lefse stick and up to center.  Place lefse on hot lefse griddle and unroll.  When bubbles appear, turn and bake on other side. If needed, turn over once more and bake till brown spots appear.  Do not overbake or lefse will be dry.  Lefse is traditionally served spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar, then rolled up to eat.  

English Muffin Bread

English Muffin Bread (From "one good thing" by Jillee)

·         5 1/2 cups warm water

·         3 packages RAPID RISE yeast 

·         2 Tablespoons salt

·         3 Tablespoons sugar

·         11 cups flour

Dump all ingredients in big bowl, mix altogether (can mix with a mixer or with a big spoon by hand.  No kneading necessary), then spoon into 4 well-greased medium loaf pans.  Let rise in pans until dough reaches the top of the pans, and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown.  10 minutes before done, brush with melted butter. Makes 4 loaves. Bread will be moist at first. Allow to COOL COMPLETELY before cutting. Makes terrific toast.

Too easy Banana Bread

1 box yellow cake mix

2 eggs
3-4 overripe bananas

Add all ingredients to a large bowl and mix well. Fill two small, greased loaf pans or one large loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes (longer if using large loaf pan.)

Even though I have a banana bread recipe that I really like I found this one on the web and thought I'd post it for those times when there just wasn't time to make banana bread the real way, but you have over-ripe bananas and you want to use them up.  I haven't tried this but it looks pretty easy.  Plus you could probably do these in a muffin tin pan too.  (I'd bake them at the same temperature for about 20 minutes, test for doneness.)

Chipotle Butter

1/2 c butter, softened (one cube)

1-2 canned chipotle peppers, diced (seeds removed, if desired)

2 Tbsp sauce that comes with the peppers

1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1 Tbsp chopped, fresh cilantro

Dash garlic powder

1

In a small bowl whip the butter, with an electric mixer, until smooth and fluffy. Add the minced peppers, chipotle sauce, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic powder. Whip until incorporated. Transfer to a serving bowl, cover and chill. (The longer it sits, the deeper the color and richer the flavor.) Just before serving put a teaspoon of the cold butter on cooked steak or burgers and allow it to melt over the top. For bread, leave softened for easier spreading. Makes 24 servings.

It might sound weird to put this on meat, but when I worked at Lone Star, they "jucied" every steak before it was served, and their "juice" consisted of equal parts lemon juice and butter.  (Actually, I believe it was a butter substitute, but you get the main idea.)  Anyway, this sounds good and I think it'd be great spread on an opened sourdough loaf and grilled under the broiler.  

Cheese Bread from Jillee's mom

1 loaf french bread, sliced lengthwise
3 Tablespoons chopped green onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl, then spread out on sliced french bread. Place bread onto a foil lined baking sheet and cook at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. (Keep an eye on it after about 10 minutes). Allow to cool for a few minutes and slice.

And apparently once you buy green onions, you can re-grow them again and again, just submerge the ends (the root ends) in water, put in your windowsill, and new green onions will grow an inch in just a few days.  After a week or so you'll have a little crop you can snip and use again.  Gotta try this. Thank you, Pinterest!

Cream Scones

Yield: 8 scones

·         2 c. all purpose flour

·         ¼ c. sugar

·         1 T. baking powder

·         ½ t. salt

·         1 pint (2 c.) very heavy cream

·         2 T. butter, melted

·         1 T. sugar

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the dry ingredients with a fork. Pour in the cream and stir it in with a fork. Give the dough a few gentle kneads with your hand. Transfer the dough to your baking sheet and pat it into a circle roughly 10” in diameter. Cut the circle into eight equal triangles and separate them. Brush the scones with the melted butter and sprinkle them with the sugar. Bake for 17 minutes, or until they spring back a bit when pressed. These scones are best the day they are baked. Serve warm or at room temperature.  Recipe note:  The proportions of cream to flour are correct.  Measure your flour by scooping and leveling.  I use an exceptionally thick cream.  If your cream is thin, begin with 1 ½ cups and add additional cream as needed.  The dough should be very soft.  You can increase sugar to ½ cup and add 1 cup blueberries (fold in very gently); or increase sugar to half a cup and add ½ cup dried cranberries with 1 tbs. grated orange zest.  Top with the tablespoon of sugar and bake as directed.  Serve with clotted cream and jam, recipe to follow.

Feta Dip

Awesome super easy no-cook appetizer, always a hit.  This is that ONE recipe that always gets asked for.  And it’s ridiculously, embarrassingly easy. Here’s what you need:

• olive oil
• 1 block (1#) of feta cheese
• tomatoes (any kind)…I use about 3 Roma’s
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1 baguette
• Greek Seasoning
• 1 large platter

Wet the platter generously with olive oil.  Dice the green onions and tomatoes.. Throw them on the olive oil. Crumble the feta cheese and throw that on the platter.. Sprinkle the Greek Seasoning on top. (use about 3 tsp.)

(If you can't find greek seasoning, you can sub with oregano and a little pepper and some salt to taste.). Mix it gently all together until it looks like this.

Slice the baguette.  A special word about the bread…it MAKES the dip.  I have found that the best bread is FRESH, bakery kind….the kind that comes in the long skinny paper bag.   You want it bite-sized and you want to cut it thin  because this is how people will “dip”.  Or you can include a spoon if the people you hang around with are super polite.

Mom Smith’s Cinnamon Rolls

Combine the following ingredients:
1 can evaporate milk
1 can hot tap water
1 cup sugar
4 tsp. salt
5 eggs
1/2 cup oil

Dissolve 4 tablespoons yeast in 1 cup warm water and add to above mixture.

Add flour until it "looks right" (my mom's words...haha) I never have measured it, but today I had a 5 lb bag of flour and I used roughly half the bag.

Add raisins (as many as you want)

Let rise in bowl; roll out and spread with melted butter and cinnamon & sugar. After cinnamon rolls are on pan, let rise again.

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes. Frost while still warm.

Orange Rolls

I haven't tried these but I stumbled upon the recipe and it looks really good.  If I don't post it here I won't remember where I saw it, so here it is.

 

1/3 cup warm water
2 Tb yeast
3 eggs
1 tsp orange extract
1 cup warm water
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
5 1/2 – 7 cups flour, divided
1 cup butter, softened, divided
1 1/3 cup sugar, divided
zest of 2 oranges

Dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup very warm water. Add eggs and beat. Add orange extract, 1 cup warm water, salt, 1/3 cup sugar, oil, and 4 1/2 cups flour. Beat. Add 1/2 to 1 cup flour and knead for several minutes. Place dough in greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Put in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled.

Knead dough 5 or 6 times. Divide in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Roll each half out into a narrow and long rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick. Spread with softened butter, remaining sugar, and orange zest. Roll up lengthwise and pinch to seal edge of dough. Cut rolls about 1 1/2 inches thick. Place in a greased pan fairly close together and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour in warm place. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 17 minutes. Don’t overbake. Let cool slightly, then ice with orange cream cheese icing.

Orange Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 package of cream cheese (4 oz.), at room temperature
1 Tb butter, softened
1/2 package of powdered sugar (about 3 cups)
2 Tb orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 – 1 tsp orange extract, to taste

Beat all ingredients together. Add more orange juice, if necessary, for drizzle consistency. Use over orange rolls.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp butter 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Grated zest of one lemon
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Lemon Glaze:

• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• Juice of one lemon

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute).  Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.  Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest.  With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix only until combined.  Gently fold in the blueberries.

Scrape the batter into greased pan and bake at 350 for about 55 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, whisk the 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar and the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice together until all blended together.  Allow loaf to cool for about 10 minutes, remove from pan and drizzle glaze over top.  

Hot Fudge Swirl

I haven't tried this yet, but saw this recipe in a magazine and it looks intriguing.  After trying it once as is, I would probably substitute hot caramel sauce for the hot fudge and add some cinnamon, but that's just me.

Cooking spray (like Pam or the equivalent)
1 3/4 cup flour
2 heaping tsps. bread yeast (or two envelopes regular yeast)
2 tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup very warm water (120 to 130 degrees)
2 tbs. melted butter

Spray 9 1/2 inch deep dish pie plate with cooking spray.  Mix the rest of the ingredients together and top with dollops of hot fudge sauce (regular or dark chocolate.)  Do NOT substitute chocolate syrup.  (This is where I would try a hot caramel sauce, but not something thin, something meant to be used the same as hot fudge.)  Use approximately 1 cup sauce.  Using spoon, swirl fudge sauce into batter.

Bake by placing pie plate into a cold oven.  Set temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned and firm in center.  Cool 10 minutes.  Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with 1 or 2 tbs. milk to make icing and drizzle over warm cake.  Serve.