3 Sweet Potato & Maple Pecan Bread Pudding

Well, that sounds like an unlikely concoction, doesn't it?  I challenged myself to come up with a recipe that showcased the wonderful sweet potatoes harvested from the organic garden at E's school.  I volunteered to make a dish that people can sample made with produce from the garden at the Fall Festival today.  I tell you what, I think it turned out wonderfully!  It is definitely a keeper recipe, and it's very simple to make.

You'll need:
1 loaf cubed French or Challa bread (about 6 cups)
2 cups vanilla almond milk (or use heavy cream)
3 eggs
2 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes (I always salt them to taste while mashing.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup maple syrup

First, these are the sweet potatoes in the raw, during trimming.

And here's E helping me wrap them in aluminum foil for baking.

Okay, for the bread pudding recipe, preheat the oven to 375.  In one large bowl toss the bread cubes with the almond milk until everything is coated and moistened and set aside for about 30-60 minutes (long enough to make a pot of tea and do the next bits.)

In another mixing bowl, beat the eggs and then add the sweet potato, brown sugar, spices, vanilla, and salt.

Mix well.  Try to smooth as many of the lumps of potato out as you can.  It really helps if the sweet potato is at room temp when you begin.

Now, add the cranberries and fold into the sweet potato mixture.

Add the cubed bread to the large bowl and fold together until all the cubes are coated.  I must admit, I tried pouring the batter over the bread cubes already in the baking dish...not so easy to mix it well.  Make sure you use the large bowl.  Then you can put the entire mixture into your greased baking dish (I used cooking spray, but you can also happily use butter) and even out.

Top with handfuls of chopped pecans....

Now at this point you can cover and refrigerate and bake the next day if you want, like my Baked French Toast recipe.  When you're ready to bake, pop the dish into your 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes.  It should still be slightly creamy in the middle and the top slightly crunchy.  If you like it firmer, continue baking for another 10-15 mins.  While it's still warm, drizzle maple syrup generously (or honey!) all over the top, and let stand for at least 30 minutes.

Voila!  It's sweet and moist, and you get a nice chewiness from the cranberries, and a satisfying crunch from the pecans.

YUM.

I was also busy yesterday afternoon packaging my wooonderful Granola Bites for the bake sale.  The recipe is found here.  I did one batch of dates & cranberry with orange and yellow ribbons...

 ...and another of dates and apricot with green and brown ribbons.

Took forever, but I thought the effect was quite pretty. =)

If you tried any of these goodies at the Fall Festival today, please tell me how you liked it!  Any other favorites you had, or any new recipes you are planning on trying soon?  Do tell!  If you are a new visitor to Bentobloggy, please click the Follow button in the upper left corner of this blog, and you can also find me on Facebook here.  Thanks bunches!

10 Baked French Toast, Revisited

Last night I had the urge to bake, and since I eschew the kind of baking that calls for a lot of precise measurements, I decided to do something simple.  I had that gorgeous unsliced sourdough loaf I got from the Mennonite bakery, and since I have so much other sliced bread on hand, I hated to freeze it.  I resolved to cube it up and do the baked French toast recipe again.  I didn't really do anything differently except I added both blackberries and blueberries, but next time I do, a friend suggested I might use peaches - what a great idea!

I cannot tell you how good this smelled!

Voila!  Perfection.

Maple syrup is gooooood.

Oh my gosh!  Seriously.  The topping makes it's own caramel that melts into the top, and drizzles down when you cut into it, fresh out of the oven.  There was nothing left to do except serve up a couple slices for the fam, then pack up the rest for my husband's office.  If you were one of those people, I hope you enjoyed it!

6 Baked Cinnamon, Pecan & Blackberry French Toast

I admit, I got the idea to make this from the Pioneer Woman blog.  Her pictures are amazing.  It looked so yummy, I thought it was the perfect dessert to make for my movie party with all the leftover bread trimmings I had from making party appetizers (I used a leaf-shaped cookie cutter, toasted them and served olive tapenade and bruschetta.)  I did change up the recipe a little, as I tend to do.

1 loaf of your favorite white bread, (trimmings are just fine) torn or cubed
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbls vanilla

topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 dashes allspice
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup chopped pecans (candied are great!)
1 pint berries, sliced or whole if they are small

First, butter a large baking dish, about 9x13.  I have a large oval dish that I love, so I used that.  As an additional insurance policy, I like to lightly spray to corners/creases of the dish with cooking oil, just in case I missed anything.

Toss in all the bread and arrange fairly evenly around the dish.

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and sugar.  Mix well.

Now, pour all the liquid over the bread in the dish.

At this point you can cover it with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you're ready to bake it, from a couple hours to overnight.  It's a great recipe to prepare ahead of time!  You can also prepare the topping ahead of time.

For the topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice and salt, and stir with a fork.

Then, add in the cold butter pieces.  Now, of all the cooking accoutrement I own, I do not have a pastry cutter, so I have to make do with a plain fork.

Mash up the cold butter into the dry mixture until it starts looking like pebbles (or as close as you can get it with a fork, in my case.)

Now you can cover the bowl and store it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.  It's important to keep it cold until then.

When you're ready to bake, heat your oven to 375, and sprinkle the chopped pecans all over the top of the dish.

Next, place your berry of choice on top.  I had a lot of blackberries, so that's what I used.

Finally, spread the crumb topping mixture evenly over the top, and pop the whole thing in the oven.

The smells coming from your kitchen should be calling all the boys to the yard after about 45 minutes in the oven.  For a firmer, less bread pudding consistency, bake for an hour or longer, just make sure the bottom doesn't burn.

It is SOOO good.  The entire dish was gone by the end of the evening.

Serve it with generous drizzles of real maple syrup on top.  Yum!!

Peach variation:

Ingredients

Custard:

1 loaf of your favorite white bread, cubed                                                                                                    
8 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream or almond milk

¼ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar
2 tbls vanilla

15 oz can of peaches in light syrup

Topping:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

2 dashes allspice

½ tsp salt

1 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

1 cup chopped pecans (candied are great!), opt

Instructions:

Grease a 9x13” baking dish.  In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, milk, cream, vanilla and sugar.  Mix well then add the peaches with juice and stir to blend.  Pour all the liquid over the  cubed bread in another large bowl and toss to combine, and transfer to the baking dish, and press evenly around.  Let stand at least 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate overnight.

To bake, preheat oven to 375.  Prepare topping by combining all ingredients except pecans, if using, and using a fork or a pastry cutter mash up the cold butter into the dry mixture until it starts looking like pebbles.  You can make this ahead of time, but keep it cold.  Sprinkle pecans and cinnamon topping all over the top of the bread mixture, and bake for 45 minutes or longer for a firmer consistency.