Kristi's Bread Pudding

Ron cooked pork loin for a group on Wednesday. The loin was sliced and served with buns.

Needless to say there were buns leftover. As the girls were talking about how many were left and what to do with them, they asked me if I had a bread pudding recipe. Apparently my eyes lit up. "Yes I do have a bread pudding recipe!"

I developed this from several other recipes. I needed a way to use up my day old cinnamon rolls when I had the cafe. This is what I came up with.

8 Cups Bread Cubes, day old bread or leftover cinnamon rolls

1 Cup Sugar

3 Cups Milk

6 Eggs

1/2 tsp Cinnamon (if not using cinnamon rolls)

1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/4 tsp Cloves

1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom

1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 Cup Butter (the real stuff!) melted

Spray a 9X13 pan well. Place bread cubes in the pan. Mix together everything but the butter. Beat well with a whisk. Pour milk mixture over the bread. Allow to soak in. Melt the butter and pour over the bread. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 50 minutes.

This stuff is good with whipped topping or ice-cream or a fresh made hard sauce or....

Snickerdoodles

When I was a kid, many many years ago, Mom would bake cookies from one cookbook that I remember. I'm sure there were other books and other recipes, but for me, this was the ultimate.

The book is Betty Crocker's Cooky Book. If you have ever seen the book you will know what I mean when I say, this book is a cookie baking kids dream cookbook. I used to sit for, what seemed like hours, drooling over the pictures. And dreaming about which ones I would bake.

Over the years I have looked for this book in different places, book stores, libraries, friends book shelves, thrift stores... I have never seen it any where. I even put it on my wish list on Paperbackswap.com. Nothing.

Then one Saturday morning when we (my sister and I) were having hot water at the old folks home, (Mom & Dad's house for hot tea) I asked about that cook book. Believe it or not, Mom gave me the cookbook when I asked for it. SHE STILL HAD IT! How great is that?

Since it's cookie baking season, I dug that book out and decided it was time to fulfill a little girls dreams.

What actually got me looking for this book again was Snickerdoodles. I need to bake some for a group and couldn't find a recipe that would come out like the ones I made as a kid. So I went looking for this "cooky book" because that is where I got the recipe from as a kid.

Now this is a Christmas present to myself. Baking these cookies has been a trip down memory lane. My taste buds even got to go along. The smell of the cinnamon, the feel of the dough, the look of the cracks on the surface of the cookies, the flavor... ahh the memories.

Here is my ultimate Snickerdoodle:

1/2 Cup Shortening

1/2 Cup Butter

1 1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

2 3/4 Cup Flour

2 tsp Cream of Tartar

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

2 T Sugar.

2 tsp Cinnamon

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Cream together the shortening and butter. Add the sugar and cream together again. Add eggs and cream together AGAIN.

In a medium bowl mix together the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Add to the egg mixture and mix just until well combined.

Mix together the 2 T sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl.

Shape dough into 1" balls and roll in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Maybe I like these so well because they remind me of cinnamon sugar toast. I ate a lot of that as a kid.

I hope they turn out as good for you as they do for me. Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bread

I found this online somewhere. Taste of Home, I think, but don't quote me. If you know me, I changed it anyway. They never end up the same by the time I'm done with them. This sounded so good though, so I played around with it and made it my own. Please feel free to do the same. :)

Cream Cheese layer:

8 oz Cream Cheese (Lite, Heavy, either one is fine)

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Egg Whites

Beat together until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

Bread Batter:

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 Cup Applesauce (sweetened or unsweetened your choice)

2 Eggs

1 T Vegetable Oil

1 2/3 Cup Flour

1 1/4 Cup Sugar (If you used sweetened applesauce you can reduce this by a tablespoon or two if you want, but not necessary.)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cloves

1/2 Cup Chopped Nuts (optional)

In a medium bowl stir together the wet ingredients. (to and including the oil) In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. Dump the wet into the dry and stir gently, just until combined.

Put 1/4 of the batter into 2 oiled (sprayed) 9X5 loaf pans. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over each. Then the rest of the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until done.

We ate this up in no time! I didn't even have any to give away. Maybe I should go make some more. See ya later!!