Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Cinnamon-Rum Sauce

Bread pudding is one of those things I have never had. When it comes to dessert I want something that really sounds like dessert, like something rich and chocolatey. Bread for dessert never sounded appealing to me. Maybe this recipe caught my eye because of the chocolate chips, but I decided that for our unconventional dinner we needed an unconventional dessert. I was originally going to make a very yummy-sounding cranberry-ribbon apple pie, but decided it didn’t quite fit with the rest of our dinner. That and I didn’t want to battle with pie crust again. So I took on something completely new, and not only made and ate bread pudding for the first time in my life, I made my own bread too.

It was an all day endeavor, to say the least. But I knew our grocery store didn’t have any brioche or egg bread (we’ve looked), and didn’t want to settle for something ordinary for this dessert. I made my own egg bread, which I then cubed and doused with custard. A truly homemade dessert from start to finish. And well worth the effort… Taylor said it’s the best thing I’ve baked in a long time (keep in mind the things you’re competing with here). I gain approval from him not through compliments or material goods or other ways in which women gain approval from their men, no… I do it through baked goods. A mediocre pie, to me, is worse than a bad hair day any day of the week. So this… to be the best thing I’ve baked in a long time…. this was a huge success.

My only advice is to wait at least 90 minutes (if not more) after dinner before you even attempt to eat this. It’s filling, to say the least, and you want to be able to enjoy every last bit of it.

I searched high and low for an egg bread/brioche recipe to make for this pudding… After finding a myriad of recipes, all of them different, some taking days and requiring way too many complicated steps, I ended up going with one I knew had to work… Betty is a failsafe like that. The result was more of a rich white bread than a brioche, but it worked great for the pudding. And for my first foray into breadmaking, it turned out pretty darned good if I do say so myself!

Rich Egg Bread

Makes 1 loaf. Recipe from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook.

INGREDIENTS
3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose or bread flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package regular or quick active dry yeast
1 cup very warm water (120Ëš to 130Ëš)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg
melted butter or margarine (optional)

DIRECTIONS
Mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Add warm water and oil. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Beat on medium speed 1 minute, scraping bowl frequently. Add egg, beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Place dough on lightly floured surface. Knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and springy. Place dough in large bowl greased with shortening, turning dough to grease all sides. (At this point, dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours). Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about 1 hour. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.

Grease bottom and sides of an 8 1/2″ or 9″ loaf pan. Gently push fist into dough to deflate. Flatten dough with hands or rolling pin into 18×9-inch rectangle. Roll up tightly, beginning at 9-inch side. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal. Press each end with side of hand to seal; fold ends under loaf. Place loaf, seam side down, in pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap lightly sprayed with cooking spray and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Move oven rack to low position so that top of pan will be in center of oven. Heat oven to 375ËšF. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until loaf is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan to wire rack. Brush loaf with butter and cool.

You can easily halve this recipe and put it in an 8×8 pan, or if you don’t have one, it fits perfectly in a 9.5″ pie dish. You can assemble the pudding a day ahead, cover and refrigerate, then bake just before serving.

Easily make a dairy free version of this recipe (that even the milk aficionados would have a hard time telling the difference) by substituting soy creamer for half and half and dairy-free margarine for the butter.

Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding with Cinnamon-Rum Sauce

Makes 12 to 14 servings. Recipe from Epicurious.

INGREDIENTS
1 1-pound loaf brioche or egg bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (about 2/3 of the Betty Crocker loaf, weight it just to be sure)
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups half and half
1 cup sugar
6 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar

For sauce:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup dark rum (brandy works nicely too if you don’t have rum)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13×9x2-inch glass baking dish. Place bread in large bowl; pour 8 tablespoons melted butter over bread and toss to coat. Add chocolate chips and toss to combine. Transfer mixture to prepared dish.

Whisk half and half, 1 cup sugar, eggs, egg yolks, vanilla extract, and salt in large bowl to blend. Pour over bread cubes in dish. Let stand 30 minutes, occasionally pressing bread cubes into custard. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.) Drizzle remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter over pudding; sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake bread pudding until puffed, brown, and set in center, about 1 hour.

For sauce, melt unsalted butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add dark brown sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt and whisk until sugar is dissolved and mixture is bubbling and smooth, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in dark rum and vanilla extract. Drizzle over pudding. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Rum Buttercream

In my recent craving for all things pumpkin (apparent by the recent baking of pumpkin muffins and multiple batches of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies), it was only time before the vivid orange squash made its way into some vegan cupcakes.

These cupcakes began as a vision. I’d lay in bed thinking of just what kind of fluffy frosting should top them. I had wanted to do a brown-sugar buttercream, but was afraid that the inherent differences between heavy cream and soymilk would prevent me from doing so (the recipe I had found, I assume, relied greatly on the ‘fluffing’ powers of cream, powers that, try as I might, I cannot replicate with soymilk). If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know – I’d love to try to make this frosting in a non-dairy version.

Brown sugar buttercream impossible, I moved on to my next idea. Thinking of what spices and spirits would go best with a slice of rich pumpkin pie, I set out to make a buttercream, spiced with cinnamon and spiked with rum. And it was good. Quite good. Since the frosting isn’t cooked, the rum stays put, and you could definitely taste it. Same with the cinnamon. I was worried that one might overpower the other, but the balance was perfect.

A perfect fall cupcake, indeed!

Pumpkin Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Rum Buttercream

Makes 12 cupcakes. Recipe adapted from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

INGREDIENTS
Cupcakes:
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup soymilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves, nutmeg, and ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon dark rum
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
soy milk, as needed

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350ËšF. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a medium bowl, stir together pumpkin, oil, sugar, soymilk, and vanilla. Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Gently whisk by hand until just combined, don’t use an electric mixer or overmix the batter as it may become too gummy. Once combined, fold in the chocolate chips.

Fill liners with 1/4 cup batter (cups should be approximately 2/3 full). Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, cream butter. Add 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. Add rum and cinnamon, and slowly mix (careful not to splatter). Continue adding sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Continue to beat until light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick, add a bit of soymilk to thin it out. If too thin, add more sugar and continue to beat until it is the right consistency. Spoon into a piping bag or just slather it right onto the cupcakes. Dust with cinnamon and enjoy!