Butterscotch Pudding -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

Time for Sweet Melissa Sundays! Today's dessert is Butterscotch Pudding, picked for us to try from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Jennifer of Maple n' Cornbread, thank you Jennifer! You can find the recipe for this pudding here at Jennifer's site.


While I am a huge butterscotch fan, I'm not really into puddings, especially puddings with egg. The only time I've made puddings at home were for Tuesdays with Dorie, we are not big pudding eaters here. But I just had to give this a try and see how it compared to the butterscotch pudding we made for TWD in December 2008. I ended up liking that one and Melissa's pudding had a very different ingredient list which made me curious.


The kids and I absolutely loved this pudding, picky husband hasn't tried it yet. ETA -- picky husband reluctantly tried one tiny bite, then requested the remainder of the ramekin, so that means it was a hit with the whole family :) It had an amazing butterscotch flavor and I enjoyed caramelizing the sugar, that is always a fun process to watch. I tasted the caramel cream before adding it to the egg yolks and it was too salty for me. I would decrease the salt from 1 teaspoon to 1/4 teaspoon for a full recipe. I made a half recipe and used 1/2 tsp salt and think 1/8 would have been plently -- the salt did mellow down a little after baking, but I would still add less than called for next time. The perfect butterscotch flavor surprised me since there is no butter or scotch in this recipe.


I baked my ramekins, covered with foil and in their water bath, for 65 minutes -- at 60 they still looked too jiggly. I did notice the top of the puddings (above where the water bath was) were more set than the bottom, almost giving a two layer effect. But both layers were delicious and I really did not taste an eggy note at all in these, they were so creamy and smooth, really perfect texture. I can't wait to make this again and maybe make it into a pie or tart, I'm so glad I didn't let my non-pudding-liking tendencies get the best of me and skip this one or I really would have missed out.

Mini Cocoa-nana Breads -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Tuesdays with Dorie, oh how I've missed thee! So nice to be back to making (and posting about) our Tuesday treat of the week. These delicious little cocoa-nana loaves were picked for us to try by Steph of Obsessed with Baking, thank you Steph!

The recipe actually makes one big loaf but I decided to bring out the mini loaf pan that had been sitting unbaked in for months, poor neglected pan...

I used up the last of my Hershey's Special Dark Dutch processed cocoa powder for this recipe, the recipe calls for 1 cup of cocoa powder and I used 3/4 cups of Special Dark (finishing up my box) and 1/4 cup of regular Hershey's cocoa powder. If you love dark chocolate you really need to have some dark cocoa powder in your pantry because this Special Dark cocoa powder really packs a dark chocolate punch. The Special Dark cocoa powder gave these breads an outrageously dark look but also a real chocolate depth to go with the banana. The little loaves were delicious and to me the flavor improved after sitting overnight.

Do these look familiar? They were last Tuesday's treat, Lillian of Confectiona’s Realm picked Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars to try and I baked along with everyone and really loved these bars (raisins and all!) but didn't get a chance to post. These were such a yummy treat and as much as I enjoyed them I did have a couple of taste testers who were turned off by the raisins and picky husband said that the chocolate part was good and the oatmeal base was good, but together they were just too much...he couldn't even finish one little bar, silly guy!

Black Bottom Brownies -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

I'm so happy to be posting again! Today's treat for Sweet Melissa Sundays is a giant pan of Black Bottom Brownies, picked for us to try by Cynthia of Bakingtherapist’s Blog, thank you Cynthia! The pan isn't really that giant, just a 9 by 13, but anytime I make brownies or bars in anything bigger than a 8 by 8 pan it seems like a giant batch to me.

Here are the brownies before going into the oven, notice that there aren't quite 2 cups of chocolate chips sprinkled over the top as called for in the recipe. I had measured out 2 cups and after sprinkling only about 1/2 cup I decided that would be plenty of chocolate chips on top. When I got started baking these I knew I would need quite a few eggs since the brownie layer and cheesecake layer both have eggs in them but I neglected to count out my eggs and only had 9 left when the recipe calls for 10 eggs and 2 yolks. Yikes, that's a lot of eggs! So I skipped the two yolks that were called for in the brownie layer (4 eggs plus 2 yolks were what the recipe requested) and in the cheesecake layer I used only 5 eggs instead of the 6 called for. I don't think these brownies suffered any adverse effects because I was short 3 eggs. One other change I made was to bake these at 350 instead of the 325 called for because I was using an insulated 9 by 13 pan and that bakes best at 350. Total baking time was around 50 minutes.

The kids really enjoyed these a little warm, after the cooling off period but before refrigeration overnight. I personally liked the better from the fridge. Husband was a no try because he hates cheesecake. They are very rich so be sure to cut them small if you give these a try. The recipe can be found in the Sweet Melissa Baking Book and I think it will also be posted at Cynthia's blog.

Romanian Easter Bread

Happy New Year! I'm hoping to be posting more in 2010 and getting back to my online baking and cooking clubs which I have really missed over the last months.

This bread was my pick for My Kitchen My World -- Romania. You can find the recipe here. I forgot to add the raisins while kneading and ended up sprinkling some on top before baking, and of course as soon as I removed it from the pan the raisins fell right off...oh-well. I had planned to make a powdered sugar icing and add raisins to the top of that but the kids wanted me to serve them this bread right away, so no chance for pretty icing and photos.

Sablés -- Tuesdays with Dorie

I'm finally back for Tuesdays with Dorie! Today's treat was selected by Barbara of Bungalow Barbara, thank you Barbara! You can find the recipe here at her site, along with lots of other delicious treats.

These cookies were very easy to make and absolutely delicious, I was surprised how much I liked them, and the husband and kids loved them as well. I can see making these again for a cookie tray, even though these cookies don't look fancy, it's the flavor and melt in your mouth texture that make them amazing.

I used some red and green decorating sugar, but think these would be so cute with nonpareils. I will have to try that next time. Painting the egg yolk on to these to have the sugar stick is a great direction, at first I wasn't sure about it and thought about skipping that step and just rolling the dough logs into the sugar, but I'm sure that the egg yolk really helped and am glad I didn't skip it. This is another wonderful recipe from Baking From My Home To Yours, and I'm sure I'll be making these often :)

Chewy Reese's Pieces Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

I found the base for these tasty treats in the 1999 Taste of Home Annual Recipes cookbook, it was titled Chewy Peanut Butter Bars and what really got me was the short ingredient list, these are a super easy one bowl cookie with very basic ingredients you are sure to have on hand.  I added Reese's Pieces before baking, and the result was one very tasty treat!

Chewy Reese's Pieces PB Cookie Bars

adapted from a Taste of Home recipe

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup all purpose flour

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup Reese's Pieces candies

Put all ingredients except for Reese's Pieces in a big bowl and mix thoroughly with electric mixer, spread into 9 by 13 pan -- you can either spray the pan with cookie spray or line it with aluminum foil and then spray it, so the bars are easy to lift out and evenly cut.

Evenly sprinkle the top of the bars with Reese's Pieces and gently press them down a little bit.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 25 - 35 minutes, I think if you were using a basic 9 by 13 pan 25 minutes would work, but I was using an air bake insulated 9 by 13, which always adds on some extra minutes. Let these cool and set up for a few hours before cutting and serving, do not try to serve them straight from the oven, they really benefit from cooling down.

My taste testers, picky husband and kids, really liked these! They are definitely more in the chewy bar cookie category as opposed to gooey or crunchy, so if you like peanut butter and chewy cookies, be sure to give these easy treats a try :)

Broccoli Cheese and Rice Casserole

I have tried a few recipes for broccoli cheese and rice casseroles in the past, only to be disappointed, so when I started making this one, with no recipe and just an idea of how this classic comfort dish *should* taste, I was fully prepared to end up with another fail version. Thank goodness I was wrong, and persevered through another possible casserole disaster, because I think I've finally figured this recipe out :)

Lots of recipes I've seen for this classic start with cream of something soup, but not this one, it starts with cooked rice, steamed broccoli florets, and a delicious homemade creamy cheddar cheese sauce. To me this is a base recipe that could be jazzed up with some sauteed onions or mushrooms or garlic, and also lends itself to lots of variations based on the cheese you use.

Basic Broccoli Cheese and Rice Casserole

6 tablespoons butter or margarine

6 tablespoons flour -- I use wondra flour which is great for sauces

3 cups milk
1/2 to 1 teaspoon kosher salt, as desired

2 cups freshly shredded sharp cheddar

4 1/2 - 5 cups cooked rice*, I used texmati brand jasmati which is like jasmine/basmati rice hybrid and cooks up nice and fluffy

1 lb steamed broccoli florets, steamed to just about desired doneness (frozen works fine, the kind you can steam in the microwave are great)

1 wrapped stack -- approx. 30 round buttery crackers (Ritz) crushed up

1/4 cup (1/2 sick) melted butter or margarine

*I used 5 cups and to me it seemed like it could have used a little less rice to make it even creamier, but my husband thought the texture was perfect with the 5 cups.

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare a 9 by 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt 6 tbsp butter or margarine over medium heat in large sauce pan with whisk in hand, add the flour and make a roux, cook for about 1 minute, whisking constantly, slowly add in 2 cups of the milk and salt, while whisking, and up the heat to medium high. After a few minutes when the sauce is bubbling and thickening, add the last cup of milk, cook a few more minutes, while whisking. Whisk 1 cup of cheese and turn off the heat.

Put the cooked rice in a very large bowl, pour the cheese sauce over the rice and mix thoroughly, add in the broccoli and mix again, add in the remaining 1 cup of cheese and mix again just to distribute the cheese.

Put the rice mixture into the baking dish and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or spatula, top evenly with the crushed Ritz crackers, then drizzle the melted butter over the top.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until the cracker topping in lightly toasted and golden brown. Enjoy!

We really enjoyed this comfort food side dish, and it was extra easy to put together, especially since I made the rice in the rice cooker while I got the broccoli and sauce ready. After that just mix it all up, pop it in the oven, and you are all set. I'm sure we'll be making this one again, especially with cold weather season fast approaching.