Wednesday, February 07, 2007

February Already?

But I'm not finished with December.
By some freak of nature, or the peculiar preservative properties of candied fruit and butter, the half of a panettone that has been sitting on a cake plate since 2006 was still semi-tender and un-moldy.
The bowl of persimmons, while softening daily, still retained enough edible — succulent, really — fruit pulp to be useable.
And, as usual, there was milk and eggs in the fridge.
So I whipped up a quick batch of individual bread puddings.
I discovered the panettone is so dense and moist already, that I used too much milk and had to pour some of it off. In fact, I decided to cut up some extra Italian bread into small chunks to help suck up some of the soppiness, as well as to introduce some structure (read: air bubbles) to the pudding.
I expected the baking time to be considerably reduced since I was using small cups instead of a large dish. But the toothpick test told me no; the little cups needed the full dose of oven time to get warm and bubbly and golden.
Well, these little guys won't be around long, and then we can get on with the business of February.
Valentine's Day already?
Sigh.

11 comments:

Katie said...

I'm sorry, did you say it was FEBRUARY!!!! Where was January?
Holy Crap, do I have work to do....

MizD said...

There is no February.

I'm hibernating until spring, just like a bear. :-)

Beccy said...

I'm so glad it's February as it brings me closer to the summer unless of course it snows then it can stay cold and wintry!

Those bread puddings look soooo good!

Monkey Wrangler said...

Those look yummy and I'm sure a bit gooey.... thanks for another idea for persimmon use. Were they Hach or Guyu and what kind of proportions did you use?

Oh, and if the panettone has really been around that long, don't announce it too loud or you might shoot a hole in the argument that the stuff ain't really fruitcake.

Dagny said...

Funny. I was just thinking about bread pudding last week. I like to use croissants and layer fresh raspberries in it.

Anonymous said...

Have you realised that february is nearly finished too. there seems to be global speed up, those puddings look delicious. Bread and butter pudding is one of my absolute favourite things about winter.

cookiecrumb said...

Katie: There was no January, apparently.

Mrs. D: Aha! There you are. Sit tight; it's almost over.

Beccy: Positive thoughts, positive thoughts. (Of course, you've noticed the days are getting longer.)

D-Man: They were Fuyu, but it wouldn't make much sense for me to attempt to recreate a recipe, since it was so ad-hoc. Well, I used three eggs and three persimmons to about 14 ounces of bread and maybe a cup and a quarter of milk...
(Yes. Shh! Panettone *is* fruitcake.)

Dagny: Wow, croissants and raspberries. Swoon.

Rita: Hold on, it's only the 8th! (Winter comfort food, yes. Thanks.)

Stacie said...

I'd take your bread pudding over a box of chocolate any day! bread pudding = love!

tammy said...

Amen, Stacie. Except, can I have my bread pudding AND chocolate?

Anonymous said...

I know, but there is only 28 days in this one and so much to get done! yikes...
I have blogged your puddings and linked back to you on my dominomagazine blog. rita

ChrisB said...

you've awakened a few grey cells; I haven't made bread pudding for years these look so good I'm tempted to make some.