My late Nanay (maternal grandma) made french toast a lot.  She used pan de sal. Of coure, in those days, I didn’t know they were called french toast.  To me, they were just pan de sal slices dipped in a mixture of milk, sugar and eggs.  It wasn’t ’til much much later that I learned what they were called.

The reason the people I feed – that would be my family – love my french toast so much is because I use the exact same mixture that I use for my bread pudding.  ;)

Here’s the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

10 -12 slices of bread (maybe more!)
1/2 cup cream
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
butter
syrup

DIRECTIONS:

1. Break eggs into a wide, shallow bowl or baking pan; beat lightly with a fork. Stir in sugar, cream, milk and vanilla.
2.  Heat griddle or skillet coated with a thin layer of butter or margarine over low heat.
3.  Soak bread slices, one at a time, into the bowl or pan, and let the slices soak up egg mixture for a few seconds, then carefully turn to coat the other side. Soak/coat only as many slices as you will be cooking at one time.
4.  Transfer bread slices to griddle or skillet, heating slowly until bottom is golden brown. Turn and brown the other side. Transfer to a serving plate.

You can serve this with butter and syrup.  But we just have our french toast as is.  No butter and no syrup.  It was cooked in a butter coated pan anyway! :)  And it already has a sweetness to it.

Tomorrow, no more french toast for us.  It’s about time we moved on to new breakfast fare. :D

This week’s theme for Lasang Pinoy, Sundays is “Bread” (Bread-y or Not).  Late last night, I baked some goodies, specially for this theme…Chocolate Chip and Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, which I might as well just refer to as C6.  Haha! ;)  The All Recipes newsletter (What’s Cooking? #424)that I received on Thursday, March 5th, couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.  The featured recipes?  Quick breads!  And that, is how I ended up with this coffee cake. ;)

First, some definition of terms are in order.

Quick bread, according to the article “Baking Quick Breads” by Jennifer Anderson,  refers to any bread that uses chemical leaveners (baking powder and/or baking soda) as opposed to yeast, and requires no kneading or rising time. The definition includes pancakes, waffles, scones, biscuits, coffeecakes, muffins and loaves.

Coffee cake, according to Wiki, has two main definitions: (1) “a cake, often sponge cake, which is made with coffee or has a coffee flavor; (2) a cake served with coffee or eaten as a dessert. Under this definition, a coffee cake does not necessarily contain coffee. Coffee cakes are typically flavored with cinnamon, apple, nuts, and fruits. This coffee cake is of the latter.

This Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake, (recipe  submitted by Michelle Krzmarzick to AllRecipes.com) certainly is a good find.  Here’s the original recipe:

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups of sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 9-in. springform pan. Combine the pecans, cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over batter.
2. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen. Remove sides of pan. Cool completely before cutting.
It was the first time I tried the recipe and I’m so glad it turned out to be love at first bite for me and my taste testers (Hubby and my little girl).  I wasn’t so sure how it was going to come out because there were minor changes that I made, most, except for one, were intentional.

Instead of a 9-in springform pan, I went for 2 12-cup muffin pans, both of which I popped in the oven at the same time.  If you will just take a look at the photo on top, the muffins on the left are of a lighter shade than the ones on the right.  The lighter shade ones were cooked in 20 minutes, but the ones in the other tray weren’t ready yet, so, I baked them for another 5 minutes.  Still, they weren’t ready.  I set the timer for another 5 minutes and busied myself with something else. When the time sounded, I saw that the muffins now have a brown crusted top.  No harm done though!  Except for the crusty top, which some actually prefer, the muffins tasted the same.  They were dense yet moist and actually just melts in your mouth.

Second, I added an extra half cup of chocolate chips to the recipe.  I thought, well, one can’t have too much chocolate chips!  And I’m right, of course!  :D

Third, the accidental change I was referring to, I dumped the 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the recipe instead of only 1 1/4.  I had no choice but to use another quarter cup of sugar to mix with the cinnamon and pecans.  If you want a result that is less sweet, then follow the recipe exactly.  I may stick to the 1 1/2 cups plus 1/4 cup for the sprinkles. :)  I’ll also do a more generous sprinkling of pecans next time.

oOo

4 more days before winners for the Cafe Munchkin Birthday Blowout are drawn! :D

Cheers!

They have been sitting pretty in one of the kitchen cabinets, still wrapped up until a few days ago, when they finally had a warm shower under the kitchen sink faucet.  I decided to put them to good use and make single-serve bread pudding.  Creme brulee or chocolate souffle would have been my first two choices but that’ll happen in good time.

I adapted my pool proof bread pudding recipe to these little containers.  As expected, they came out of the oven puffed and pretty.  My only problem is that they didn’t stay that way very long.

The puffiness of the pudding was gone in less than five minutes.  They look far worse than the ones in the pic above.  I should have taken a photo!  Anyway, I did a little snooping in the internet and found some suggestions which might prove to be helpful next time.  One is to let the bread soak in the milk and whip cream mixture for a few hours, or overnight even.  I think it would also be good if I there are less gaps between the pieces of bread and make them fit in the ramekin a little more snuggly.  I shall test these solutions some time next week.

I made a total of 10 single-serve bread pudding, primarily because I only have 10 ramekins!  Hee hee. *wnk*  I used one slice of bread per ramekin.  But I will use more next time, remember, snug fit!

Ingredients

2 cups whipping cream

3 cups whole milk

1 cup sugar

3 medium sized egg

3 teaspoons vanilla

dried fruit (optional)

To make:  Place 1-2 slices of bread in a ramekin, covering the bottom.  If using dried fruit, sprinkle over the bread then top with the remaining pieces of bread.  Press down firmly to flatten and “trap” the dried fruits.  Whisk together all the ingredients for the custard then carefully pour over the bread pieces until they are practically submerged.

Let this stand for about 10 minutes (I now suggest a few hours to maybe overnight for better results!) so that the bread can absorb the cream/milk/egg mixture.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.  Cover each ramekin with foil and put them in a larger pan with about a quarter to half inch of hot water.  Make sure the foil isn’t touching the tops of the bread.  Put the pan containing the ramekins in the oven and bake for roughly 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and cook for another 20-30 minutes until it is puffed up, the liquid has been absorbed and the tops are just lightly browned.  Chances are you’ll have to cook beyond 30 minutes.

I’ll be making a new batch again next week! ;)

It used to be that bread will just expire on us.  Well, not anymore.  Not after I found the perfect Bread Pudding recipe. ;)  Sometimes, we buy an extra loaf of bread purposely so I can make bread pudding for hubby and Abby.  My daughter just loves bread pudding and can have it for breakfast, dessert and snack.  Hee hee.  That’s my girl.  My first bread pudding adventure wasn’t so great.  I posted an entry about it here, and the end product looked like this,

I found the recipe I used for the above bread pudding in the internet.  This was in October.  It was ok but it was a recipe that needed a wee bit of tweaking.  It was in December when I decided to give making bread pudding another try.  You have to understand that growing up, my grandmother made it all the time and I just loved it.  I loved all the food that came out of her kitchen!  Hee hee!  So I was on a quest for the best bread pudding recipe.  I found it at one of my favorite food blogs, Market Manila.  I should have known better and looked for the recipe there the first time!  Tsk, tsk!  Now, my bread pudding looks like this…

Can you feel the pride?  Hee hee.  I made this in December.  Actually, I made it several times in December.  Since then, I make bread pudding almost every other week, except last month.  I wanted to give my hubby and daughter a little break.  :D  First, here’s the recipe, credit for which goes to MarketMan:

stale bread cut into small pieces

1 cup cream or 1.5 cups whipping cream

2 cups whole milk

2/3 cups sugar

2 medium sized egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

dried fruit (optional)

To make:  Place the pieces of bread in an oven proof baking dish covering the bottom.  If using dried fruit, sprinkle over the bread then top with the remaining pieces of bread.  Press down firmly to flatten and “trap” the dried fruits.  Whisk together all the ingredients for the custard then carefully pour over the bread pieces until they are practically submerged.

Let this stand for about 10 minutes so that the bread can absorb the cream/milk/egg mixture.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 F, and put the prepared dish into a larger pan with about an inch of hot water and cover this all with some foil and put into the oven. Make sure the foil isn’t touching the tops of the bread.  Cook this for roughly 30 minutes (longer if you made a bigger pudding) and remove the foil and cook for another 20-30 minutes until it is puffed up, the liquid has been absorbed and the tops are just lightly browned.

In the case of the puddings I’ve made, I cooked them for 45 minutes with the foil cover and 45-60 minutes uncovered.  I use a lot of bread, that’s why! :D  One time, I experimented a little and added chocolate chips…

And here’s how a slice looked like…

Being the chocolate lover that I am, I kinda liked it.  But my daughter didn’t so no more chocolate chips on bread puddings.  Hee hee.  Another time, I held off on the cream and substituted whole milk with soya milk.  I added more sugar, too.  The end product looked like this…

And a slice looked like this…

Another time, I used a whipping cream and soya milk combo.  What I have yet to do is add pieces of dried fruit. :D  That’s next on my agenda.  All the bread puddings I’ve made thus far are moist that they simply melt in your mouth.  Promise!

oOo

I have another Weekend Snapshot entry HERE.  Have a great week, everyone! ;)

This is called “Holy Toast: The Miracle Bread Stamper that makes a heavenly breakfast! ”

Tsk, tsk!  I just don’t get it.  It’s supposed to be a “gag gift for those who believe in miracles.”  Not funny, I say.  Not funny.  Or is it just the Catholic in me talking?  Oh well.

I myself made these pieces of edible art sometime in October last year at the Austiin Museum of Art (AMOA). 

Every second Saturday is Family Day at the museum and that particular Saturday, the theme was Food Art.  Actually, the art activities are for the kids.  But this looked like so much fun that I had to give it a try…not only once but twice!  Hahaha. 

In the above photo are Abby and me hard at work. :)

This is Abby’s handy work, with a little help from her dad.  She was in such a hurry to finish it because she wanted so much to take a bite already!

This next piece of art, er, toast, is a collaboration between Abby and her Daddy. :D  As you can see, Abby already took a bite before I could even take a picture.

Yes, these artoworks are 100% edible.  You can do it at home with your kids!  You can use a piece of toast as your canvas.  It’s easier to draw on a piece of bread that has been toasted for a minute or so.  That way, your canvas isn’t too soft.  Any piece of bread should do.

The markers we used at the museum are of the brand Americolor Gourmet Writer.  It sells for $16.75 at Amazon.  I know, it’s not exactly cheap!  But I found the next best thing at the supermarket (HEB)…

This is the Wilton Food Writer.  It only costs a fraction of the Americolor ones and is also available in pastel colors.  The inks used in these pens are basically made of water and food coloring. 

So there, a fun activity that ought to keep the kids busy for a few minutes…unless you can get them to go through an entire loaf of bread.  Hee hee!  Have a great weekend y’all! :D

Wordless Wednesday

I invite you to check out my “Taste Test” entry. :)

I don’t know why I never thought of doing this before, opting instead to just let bananas after bananas go to waste.  Shame on me!

But that won’t happen again.  From the outcome of this late night baking project, I know for sure this won’t be the last time.  The finished product was so surprisingly moist that it almost felt like I went through a banana bread baking degree program.  Haha!  Anyway,  the original recipe used walnuts, which I conveniently substituted with chocolate chips…ever the chocolate lover that I am.

For sure, this won’t be my last banana project.  Besides, I have banana recipes waiting to come to life, one from Meeya and another one from Kris. ;)

You can check out the recipe I used here. :D  And beware if you use choco chips like I did.  It’s not exactly for weight watchers, nor is it for “sugar watchers”.  Hee hee! ;)

The end product wasn’t sweet at all, as in no trace of sugar whatsoever.  That didn’t come as a surprise because the recipe only called for 6 tablespoons of sugar.  But it’s nothing a little maple or chocolate syrup (or even custard sauce) couldn’t fix. :)

In fairness, the recipe did call for a meringue topping.  But I got lazy. :D

oOo

I also made arroz caldo last Wednesday, for the first time ever.  I prepared it just before hubby, Abby and I headed out of the house.  Before we left, it looked perfect and it did taste perfect, if I may say so myself.  But when we got back after about an hour, I was a little shocked to see  the rice has soaked up almost all of the sabaw.  I had to remedy it a little by adding some more water.  The thing is, I didn’t want to add too much because like I said, it already tasted perfect, exactly how I want and remember arroz caldo to be.  I just made a mental note to use a little less rice next time. ;)

Ayan o, sobrang lapot!  This time, wala akong “arroz caldo b”.  Hee hee!

I’ve always loved arroz caldo.  It’s a classic comfort food for me…and comfort me it did! ;)

That’s it as far as my kitchen “clinical trials” are concerned.  Hee hee! :)

Enjoy the weekend, y’all! :D