TWD- Quick Berry Tart

I think I'm going to have to go with CB on this- not really that "quick." The tart shell comes together quickly, the pastry cream comes together fairly quickly, but by the time you add that up, not so quick.

But oh, so worth it.

Put plainly, you need to make this.

 Now.

Go to Cristine's blog for the recipe.

Now.

Brownie Pudding

Do you have Souplantation (in other places called Sweet Tomatoes) where you live? I hope so. I first went there years ago and I thought, "What? Eight bucks for a salad bar? No, thanks!" Then when my brother and I lived together in Los Angeles, we would go together and I started loving it. Now, we take our kids there and they absolutely love it (but it's more than 8 bucks). One of my favorite things there is the Chocolate Lava Cake- chocolate cake on top of gooey, chocolatey pudding. Paired with their nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt (and, ok, I confess, sometimes toffee bits), it's so yummy. And since you just ate a bunch of salad, it's ok, right?
Anyway, I found a recipe that's very similar to Chocolate Lava Cake. I just stumbled upon it in my BHG cookbook. I was looking for a dessert to serve guests last night. Since I had all the ingredients for this, it won. First, you make a one-bowl brownie batter. Pour it in a greased baking dish. Then mix together boiling water, cocoa powder, and boiling water. Pour it over the batter and bake.
Some kind of magic happens and the brownie rises to the top, the pudding sinks to the bottom and you have a yummy dessert! This has to be served warm with either whipped cream or ice cream. The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie ice cream we ate it with was PERFECT!

Chocolate Brownie Pudding
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cupc granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• Ice cream for serving

Directions

1. Grease a 13x9-inch baking pan. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, granulated sugar, the 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, the baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Pour into the prepared pan.

3. In another medium bowl stir together the brown sugar and the cocoa powder. Stir in the boiling water; slowly pour over batter in pan.

4. Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes. Let stand for 20-25 minutes to allow pudding to set. Serve warm with ice cream. Makes 10-12 servings.

TWD- Split-Level Pudding

I admit I haven't had the best of luck making Dorie's recipes that have pudding or custards. I think they turn out too eggy. Unfortunately, it happened again with this one. The pudding, which is a vanilla (I did cinnamon) pudding on top of (or in my case surrounded by) chocolate ganache. It looks and sounds wonderful- the picture in the book looks fabulous. I thought the flavor was really good, but the cinnamon pudding was eggy. I also thought there were a lot of steps- put things in the food processor, take them out, put other things in, pour them out, cook, and put them back in, blah, blah....Sorry, does this post sound negative? Maybe it's because I'm out of town and it was SNOWING today. :) Check out Garrett's blog for the recipe!

TWD- Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is kinda weird. Some people don't like it because it has a different consistency. I never liked it when I was younger- mushy bread in some eggy, jelly stuff? No thanks! Then I tried some when I was older. It was just plain vanilla bread pudding, warm with some vanilla ice cream and I was sold.
I was excited that this week's recipe, chosen by Upper East Side Chronicles, was for chocolate bread pudding. I made chocolate bread pudding once before, a Paula Deen recipe that I absolutely love. Dorie's requires you to boil the milk and temper the eggs beforehand, and bake in a waterbath (which I admit, I skipped). Soaking the bread for 30 minutes before baking is a must- the bread soaks up all the milk/egg/sugar mixture, making it yummy and moist. Here's mine before it went in the oven:
I may have baked mine a little too long because the bread got a little dark on top. No matter, it was still wonderfully moist and delicious. I added about a 1/4t cinnamon, which added a nice flavor. I do have to admit I like Paula Deen's recipe a little more- although I don't use the sauce she makes, hers is more decadent and chocolatey. Thanks to Lauren for the great pick!
Side note- my Cake Slice Bakers cake is coming! I just haven't had time to buy the tea!

TWD- Vanilla Cup Custard

Finally back to TWD- I'm staying home with my kids full time now (yay!) but somehow I have a lot less time than I did when I was working. How's that?
Anyway, this week was a custard chosen by Bridget. After reading the P&Q, I wasn't sure about making it- EVERYONE said it was eggy and not the greatest. But since I didn't make last week's prune cake, and I had already made the week's before toffee bars, I decided to make this. Dis
A
Point
Ed
Eggy? yes.
Flavorful? No
Some people said it was similar to flan, but I didn't really think so. I was hoping to pass this off as tonight's Family Night treat, but I guess I'll have to come up with something else!Check out Bridget's blog for the recipe (if you still want to! :) )!

TWD- Creme Brulee

After reading a couple other posts on this, I'm not alone in saying that Creme Brulee has always been a favorite dessert of mine. And my husband's. So much so, in fact, that we got a butane torch for our wedding shower (we have yet to buy a tank, though...darn!). So I was pretty excited that this week's recipe was for Creme Brulee, chosen by Merouw Cupcake. There are a few variations given in the book, but I stuck with the normal vanilla version because it's so good. I've made it in the past, but it always involved a water bath. Dorie's version doesn't use a water bath- just baking it at a very low temperature for a longer period of time. The recipe is very simple- just boiling cream and milk and using it to temper the egg yolks and sugar. Pop it in the oven and that's it! Although, the recipe says 50-60 minutes, mine took a lot longer than that (was anyone else's bubbling even though the center was set??!!). Since we don't have a tank for our torch (even though it's been over 5 years), I used the boiler method to crystallize the sugar. I also halved it because that last thing we need at our house is 4-6 creme brulees. Here's the recipe.