Bourbon Raisin Butterscotch Pear Bread Pudding

This Bourbon Raisin Butterscotch Pear Bread Pudding is a decadent and delicious adult treat. Make it kid-friendly by subbing apple juice.

When I was growing up, and thinking about it reasonably it’s probably still true today, cakes in South American all seemed to have liquor or liqueurs as flavoring. Even cakes made for a child’s birthday party were soaked in it! Young me hated them. 

Now I see the allure. As long as it’s not overdone, the alcohol adds a little punch of flavor, not unlike adding vanilla but more grown up. One of my favorite ways to add alcohol to a bake is by soaking raisins in it.

If you agree, you might want to bake my rum raisin banana muffins, my whiskey raisin oatmeal bars, or my rum raisin butter Bundt with rum honey glaze.

Once again, this is not a sponsored post but my key ingredient, the butterscotch pears, were a gift from Melissa’s Produce as part of a promotion for their Family Baking Challenge. Lots of great prizes to win including a KitchenAid mixer! You can find all the details on their website! 

Bourbon Raisin Butterscotch Pear Bread Pudding

I used our favorite bourbon – Bulleit - to soak my golden raisins but if you are not a bourbon fan, substitute your favorite tipple. If you need to keep this kid-friendly, use apple juice instead. As you will see in the photos, I used Sara Lee brioche. Substitute your favorite loaf. This recipe is adapted from one on the Melissa’s Produce website. 

Ingredients 

For the bread pudding:

1 cup, loosely packed, or 120g golden raisins

1/2 cup or 120ml bourbon 

2 large Butterscotch Pears (approx. weight = 780g)

Zest 1 small lemon 

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup or 57g butter, plus extra for the pan

3/4 cup or 150g granulated sugar, divided

6 cups or about 265g cubed stale brioche bread (This was 9 slices of the Sara Lee.)

4 eggs

1 cup or 240ml whipping cream 

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch salt

For serving: 

Whipping cream

Method

Warm the bourbon slightly in a microwave or small pot on the stove and then pour it over the raisins in a small bowl. Cover with cling film and set aside. 

Preheat your oven to 325°F or 163°C. The original recipe uses an 8x8 in or 20x20cm baking dish but you will see from the photos, I decided to use disposable aluminum pans to make sharing this delicious pudding easier, which means that I was effectively using an 8x10 in or 20x25cm pan. The bread pudding turns out slightly less deep but still wonderful. Butter whichever pan or pans you decide to use and set aside. 

Core and peel the pears then toss them in a large bowl with the lemon juice to stop them from turning brown.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add a 1/2 cup or 100g of the sugar and stir until combined. Add the pear slices in an even layer. 

Cook, without stirring for 8 minutes until the sugar and fruit begin to caramelize. 

Flip the slices and cook for a further 5-8 minutes until both the fruit and the caramel are golden brown. Remove the pan from the heat. 

Meanwhile, prepare the custard by whisking the eggs in a large bowl, then adding the remaining 1/4 cup or 50g sugar, cream, milk, vanilla, lemon zest, cinnamon and salt.  Whisk again to combine. 

Drain the raisins and reserve the bourbon that wasn’t soaked up. Set aside a small handful for topping.

Spread half of the bread cubes into the prepared pan. Top with half of the raisins. Add a second layer with the rest of the bread cubes and top with the rest of the raisins.

Pour the custard mixture over the bread. Press down to make sure all cubes are soaked.  

Layer pear slices evenly over the top of the bread mixture. Top with remaining caramel from the skillet and the handful of reserved raisins.  

Bake for 55-65 minutes until fully set. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes. 

Pour the reserved bourbon over the top, if desired, and leave it to soak in. 

At our house bread pudding is always accompanied by a generous pour of whipping cream. 

Enjoy! 

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Golden Marquis Potatoes

Golden Marquis Potatoes are food fit for royalty. Butter, cream and several rich egg yolks are added to tender mashed potatoes and piped into hollow rosettes, which are then baked till golden. These are the fanciest potatoes that are easy to make.

If you’ve heard of duchess potatoes, same thing, except marquis potatoes are piped with a well in the middle. These are special potatoes for a special occasion! Traditionally, these would be filled with crushed tomatoes but we think potatoes need gravy instead. 

They look fancy, but they are surprisingly easy to make. Just stir egg yolks, butter, cream, plenty of salt and pepper, and a dash of nutmeg into mashed potatoes, then pile the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe it onto a baking sheet in any shape you like. Sprinkle with a little shredded cheese, if desired, bake, and you’ll have an elegant potato side dish for your Thanksgiving meal, Christmas table, or even a weeknight dinner party.

Golden Marquis Potatoes

This recipe is adapted from the fabulous Julia Child’s book, The Way to Cook. You will need a large piping bag and a 1/2-inch star piping tip for this recipe. For the Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy recipe, check out this link. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 675g Russet potatoes

4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup or 60ml heavy cream, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Line a large baking sheet (or two) with parchment paper or a silicone liner and set aside. This recipe makes about 18-20 marquis potatoes, depending on how big you pipe them.

Peel and wash the potatoes, cut them into 1/2-inch or 1 cm chunks. Steam until tender, about 15 minutes. 

Remove the potato chunks from the heat and use a potato ricer or masher to completely mash the potatoes until they are lump free. A potato ricer is best for this job but if you are diligent about getting all the lumps out, a masher works as well.

 Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C.  

While the potatoes are still warm, but not hot, add the yolks in one at a time, mixing well with each addition until the yolk is completely incorporated. Repeat until all the yolks are in. The photo below was yolk number three. 

Add the softened butter, cream, 3/4 teaspoon salt, black pepper and nutmeg. Stir until the butter has melted and the mixture is homogeneous.

Transfer to a large piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch star piping tip and pipe round mounds (2 1/2 inches wide by 2 inches tall) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. My second pan only had eight. 

Place both sheets in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans top to bottom and front to back and continue baking until the tops of the potatoes are light golden brown, about 10 minutes more.

When the marquis potatoes are golden, remove them from the oven and use a flat spatula to transfer them to a serving plate or directly to dinner plates. Fill with your favorite gravy.

As you can see from the photos, I love to serve these with Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy but since Christmas is coming, turkey gravy would go nicely as well. 

Enjoy!

This week our Sunday FunDay bloggers are sharing holiday side dishes your family will love! Many thanks to our host Rebekah of Making Miracles. Check out all of the links below.

• Charred Green Beans with Cranberries and Crisped Onions by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chicken Lapeta by Sneha's Recipe
• Creamed Spinach Gratin by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Festive Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad by Palatable Pastime
• Golden Marquis Potatoes by Food Lust People Love
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Cinnamon Butternut Squash by Making Miracles
• Sicilian Salad by A Day in the Life on the Farm

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Spiced Persimmon Crème Brûlée

Sweet pumpkin persimmons add a delightful flavor to this spiced persimmon crème brûlée. Top with sliced persimmons and perhaps a few candied pecans for a deliciously memorable holiday dessert.

Who doesn’t love crème brûlée? Soft custard, just barely set, topped with crunchy sugar blasted into goldenness by a kitchen torch. I tell you, friends, these are the things dreams are made of! 

As I mentioned in my Winter Crunch grape muffin post, this is not a sponsored post but I was gifted the pumpkin persimmons by Melissa’s Produce. It was such a treat to open the box and see all of the wonderful goodies inside! 

If you haven’t heard about their Family Baking Challenge, let me fill you in. There are more than $5,000 in prizes to be won, including a KitchenAid mixer. Full details and sign up here: Melissa's Produce website. 

Spiced Persimmon Crème Brûlée

Like many families, we are a small household these days so I tend to downsize recipes to minimize waste and leftovers. The original recipe on Bigger Bolder Baking makes six whereas mine makes only four. My recipe calls for 2 pumpkin persimmons which weighed 8.75 oz or 248g, about 1 1/4 cups after peeling, coring and cubing.

Ingredients for 4 crème brûlée

For the custard:

2 sweet pumpkin persimmons, plus 1 extra for serving

1 1/4 cups or 295ml heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

Pinch fine sea salt

5 large egg yolks

4 tablespoons sugar

To serve:

extra sugar for the brûlée top

extra slices of pumpkin persimmon

Optional: candied pecans

Method

Peel, core and chop the pumpkin persimmons into small cubes. Aren't they a glorious color?

In a medium saucepan, heat the cream, persimmons, cinnamon and ginger over medium heat just to a simmer and then remove from the heat. 

Allow the persimmons to steep in the cream and infuse for 30 minutes.

Once the cream mixture has cooled, blend the mix either in a food processor or blender until the persimmon is really smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with sugar. Gently whisk the cream mixture into the yolk mixture.

Lay a cheesecloth (or fine cloth) over a sieve and pass the custard base through it to remove persimmon pulp. This step is important to ensure a silky smooth brûlée. This takes some time and effort because the custard is thick but do persevere. It’s worth it! 

Heat your oven to 300°F or 150°C. Place four 6-ounce crème brûlée dishes in a roasting pan; set aside. As you can see, my largest deep baking pan only fits three so I used two pans which can fit on the same oven rack. 

Pour the persimmon custard into the dishes and transfer to the oven’s middle rack. (I had two cups of custard so half a cup or 4 oz each.) Pour hot water into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the side of the dishes.

Bake until set but still a bit jiggly in the center — about 35-40 minutes. Cool completely. Cover and chill for up to 2 days.

To brûlée the tops: sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar over the top of each. I like to use a small sieve to make sure it's sprinkles evenly. 

Caramelize the sugar using a kitchen torch OR place dishes on a baking sheet and broil on high, watching carefully until bubbling and golden brown.

Let rest until the sugar hardens to a crisp shell. Top with a couple of slices of pumpkin persimmon and,if desired, candied pecans.

Enjoy!

If you love persimmons, you might also like my ripe persimmon muffins and a brief explanation of persimmon varieties.

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Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread #BreadBakers

Parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, capers and olives are blended with garlic to create the filling for this cheesy tomato tapenade party bread. Put it in the center of the table and let everyone help themselves!

At the beginning of what became this unusual year of social distancing and pandemic, I encouraged my Bread Baker group members to claim a month to host and choose a theme. So way back in February, our host Felice decided we should all bake tear-and-share breads. She wrote on our event page: “A Tear & Share, as it is known in the UK, is perfect for a holiday get-together. Sweet or savory, bake a tear & share (aka pull-apart bread) that celebrates the holiday season. It could be the shape, the flavors, or a tradition that fits with this theme.”

Little did Felice – or any of us know – that holiday get-togethers would end up being smaller or indeed postponed. Good thing that baking bread cheers us up!

I chose this bread because of the flavors, which remind me of a favorite party appetizer. Who doesn’t like a rich tapenade spread on tiny toasts? But I also think the shape would be beautiful to display, then share on a holiday table. 

Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread

The olives are the star ingredient for this pull-apart bread so use the best quality ones you can afford, preferably with the pits still in. I like dry oil-cured olives because the flavor is concentrated and the briny-ness they add really perks up a tapenade. This recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe from his show Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast. 

Ingredients

4 cups or 508g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/4 cups or 295ml warm water

1/4 teaspoon sugar

4 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra for the dough bowl and baking

3 1/2 oz or 100g whole black olives (100g was 32 dry oil cured olives)

1 clove garlic

6 soft sun-dried tomatoes (mine were already cut up – a little more than 1/2 oz or 16g by weight)

1 tablespoon drained capers 

3 1/2 oz or 100g Parmesan cheese, grated

Method

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

Add the yeast and sugar to the measuring cup with the warm water and give it a quick stir. Set it aside for a few minutes to make sure the yeast is active and starts bubbling.

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeasty water in. 

Stir in the flour from the outside to form a dough. I have a handy tool for this but you can certainly use a fork or spatula. 

Sprinkle your clean work surface with flour and knead the dough until smooth and springy, about 10 minutes. Roll it into a ball. Oil the bowl with a drizzle of olive oil and pop the dough ball back in, turning it over to coat the outside with the oil.

 Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or cling film and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about one hour or until it doubles in size.

Tip: If your kitchen is cold, as mine is right now, add warm water to a larger bowl (or your sink) and place the dough bowl in it. You may have to change out the water for more warm from time to time before the dough is fully risen. 

Meanwhile, pit the olives and peel the garlic. 

Use a mortar and pestle (or a small food processor) to turn them, along with the capers and sun-dried tomatoes, into a rough paste or tapenade. 

Set aside a little of your grated Parmesan for topping then add the rest into the tapenade. I added mine in two lots, whirring in between to combine thoroughly. 

If you are using a mortar and pestle, muddle in four tablespoons of olive oil. If you are using a small food processor, tip add the olive oil and pulse again to combine. 

Once it has risen properly, divide the dough into two equal pieces. (Mine weighed just over 14 oz or 400g each.) Sprinkle your clean work surface with flour and roll one piece into a circle about 11 in or 28cm wide. Line a baking pan with baking parchment or a silicone liner. Transfer the of the dough circle to the pan. 

Spread the cheesy tomato tapenade all over the dough and right to almost the edge.

Sprinkle your clean work surface with a little more flour and roll the other piece of dough into a circle about 11 in or 28cm wide.

Carefully place that dough circle on top of the tapenade and press down gently. 

Put a clean jam jar or drinking glass in the middle of the dough circle. Use a sharp knife to make 12 evenly spaced cuts from the jar to the outer edge.

I pretended mine was a clock and made cuts at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock then tried to make the two cuts in between each as evenly spaced as possible, which as it turns out, wasn’t so even. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter though so just do your best. 

Pick up each piece of dough and twist it three times before putting it back on the baking pan. 

Cover the dough lightly with a damp cloth or cling film and leave to prove again in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size. In retrospect, I should have baked this on a round pizza pan because it did rise beautifully. Unfortunately since it couldn't spread in all directions, it turned out a little wider on the sides. 

As you get near the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C. 

Sprinkle the dough with the reserved Parmesan cheese and drizzle on some olive oil. 

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 or until the bread is lovely and golden. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 15 minutes. Garnish with some little basil leaves, if desired, and serve. 

Enjoy! 

Check out all the other great tear-and-share breads we have for you today! Many thanks to our host, Felice from All That's Left Are The Crumbs.

• Baklava Danish Tear and Share Bread by A Messy Kitchen
• Buttery Soft Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cheesy Chicken Chutney Pull Apart Skillet Rolls by Sneha's Recipe
• Cheesy Tomato Tapenade Party Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Cranberry Cinnamon Star Bread by Making Miracles
• Fruit Mince Braided Star Bread by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Gingerbread Spice Christmas Tree Bread by Passion Kneaded
• Herb and Cheese Star Bread by Ambrosia
• Koledna Pitka - Bulgarian Christmas Eve Bread by Magical Ingredients
• Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Loaf by Palatable Pastime
• Sourdough Finnish Pulla Bread by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Spiced Chrysanthemum Bread by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Turkey, Cranberry and Cheese Pull Apart Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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