A Delicious Discovery

How was everyone's weekend? Good, I hope! Mine was pretty nice.. the snow started to melt on Saturday morning with temperatures soaring to a whopping 50º F! Now that might not seem very warm to many of you, but for us northeastern Ohioans, that's shorts and flip-flops weather! I was almost tempted to put mine on. ;) Unfortch the wind was blowing around 40 mph so outside time wasn't as pleasant as I'd hoped it would be. Nevertheless, the wind did not take away from what ended up being a great weekend because I got some baking done, I watched a really cute (predictable, but cute - No Reservations) movie, spent some time on the phone with my favorite French baking guru, Ivonne and I received an e-mail from Nick Malgieri (squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!) who is going to be writing an article for the food section of the Washington Post and looks like our Daring Bakers might be mentioned! WOO HOO! And I discovered a fantastic dessert in my research for my latest article at FoodieView, which will be up later today. Not too shabby of a weekend, eh? :D So the article at FoodieView is on snow day desserts.. I chose to highlight two of my favorite types of desserts, bread puddings and self-saucing puddings. I could eat both of these types of desserts year round, but they are especially good in the cold Autumn/Winter months. Seriously, what is better than throwin' on the flannel pjs, and getting under your favorite blanket with a bowl of something ooey, gooey, sweet, warm and delicious? It's times like that which make me almost enjoy winter. I had decided on two self-saucing puddings to highlight, but wanted a third. In my search I found an Apple Caramel Self-Saucing Pudding at Cook Sister which looked amazing. And so right up my alley.. I loves me my apple desserts! I knew I'd be making this in the near future, this would not go into the "to make" pile to be forgotten about down the road. I just didn't know I'd be making it two days later. :) I wanted to include a photo in the FoodieView article, so I wrote to Jeanne, the author of Cook Sister, to ask permission to use her photo. Unfortunately, she hasn't gotten back to me yet - so I decided that for the sake of the article, I really should make it myself so I can photograph it. Right? I mean, it's just good journalism, yes? :P Jeanne doesn't say where she got the recipe from, just that the original used dates. She had a taste for cooked apples, so voila! A warm apple cake, that is so moist and flavorful, with a gooey, buttery rich caramel sauce hidden beneath. She described it as "Heaven in a bowl" and I could not agree more. Super easy to make, hardly no time at all in preparation and almost instant gratification when it comes out of of the oven, because you don't want to let this pudding cool off completely. To be honest, the aroma from the oven scenting my whole house in apple-y goodness, had me tuckin' my spoon in while the pudding was still steaming. heeee! As per usual, I made a couple changes when I prepared mine. I used a Gala apple instead of the Granny Smith she used. I had a pint of heavy cream that was on it's way to a lumpy coagulated death if I did not use it up soon, so I substituted it in lieu of the milk. I added a 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon to the batter as well. Once I had the batter mixed together I thought it was a little dry so I ended up using an extra tablespoon of the heavy cream. My love of apples and raisins in desserts has me thinking that the next time I make this, a handful of raisins will be added as well. I was so happy with this dessert that I e-mailed Helene the recipe with a rave review, so she made it herself last night. hahahahaaa! She went with a different variation, so check out her blog in the near future to see how she made hers. :) Apple Caramel Self-Saucing Pudding Courtesy of Jeanne of Cook Sister Below is my version: The Pudding: 1 c. all purpose flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar 20 grams butter, melted 1/2 c. heavy cream 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped The Sauce: 3/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar 2 cups boiling water 60 grams butter Preheat the oven to 350º F. and grease a 2 quart shallow oven-proof dish. (I used individual ramekins, not sure of their size but I got 4) Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, butter, cream and chopped apple in a large bowl and mix well. Spread the mixture into the prepared dish(s). For the sauce, combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the butter melted. Pour the caramel sauce slowly over the back of a spoon over batter in dish. Bake for about 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until firm in the center. Serve warm. These were great the next day, warmed up in the microwave for about 30 seconds, there was still plenty of sauce on the bottom. :) Enjoy! xoxo