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Kick up the traditional brownie with an ultra creamy cheesecake topping.
It is that time again, time for Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) and Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell, is our hostess this week. Melissa must have known that I needed the perfect dessert for us to bring to a BBQ last weekend when she picked Dorie’s Espresso Cheesecake Brownie. When I pulled up the September schedule Saturday morning, I was thrilled to see what was pick for the week. I have always loved brownies with a cheesecake topping but these were double the fun. The cheesecake was flavored with espresso and then topped with a creamy topping made of sour cream and sugar. These brownies are sure to please even the most discriminating group!
Be sure to pour yourself a big glass of milk and head over to the TWD blogroll to indulge even further.
Delicate Lemon Verbena flavors these traditional French Madeline to make a light and airy dessert or afternoon snack.
We have or I should say “had” an abundance of Lemon Verbena growing outside our kitchen door, which was a pure delight. I love to open the door in the morning and smell the wetness of the evening and sweetness of the verbena while having that first sip of espresso. I noticed over the weekend that someone or something has been chewing on the leaves. Ever so tenderly, they are eating just pieces of each small leaf. So, I grabbed some kitchen shears and saved what I could and then trimmed back the plant – I hope it does not die. With the small bowl of delicate leaves I made a simple syrup and thought about what I could make for Andrea‘s GYO event this month…..
Lenny is heading to Boston and it is his mother’s birthday, I know she loves these sweet little cookies, so I baked up a batch of madelines. I used David Lebovitz’s recipe, minus the lemon glaze, instead I dipped each little cookie in the simple syrup before delicately wrapping. The lemon verbena is lovely with this delicate cookie as it gives it a slightly lemony as well as a bit of a spicy bite, similar to basil, mixed with the sweetness of sugar; it reminds me of a late summer afternoon, light, sunny and very warm.
I am submitting this to Andrea‘s GYO event. It has been awhile since I have had the time to really participate in one of my favorite “food blog events”. Andrea’s has been one of my favorite events as it gives us a chance to showcase what we grown in our gardens, whether it is from an urban dwelling or a large garden out in the country. As well it brings all of us together from all over the world – it is really nice to see what people from every corner of the world are enjoying at the same time.
The August 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers’ cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
We got a wonderful invite over to John & Michelle’s home for an amazing dinner. John is the chef and creative food genius behind Food Wishes. Food Wishes is an amazing site that is full of cooking video recipes. We knew he was working on some “dry aged beef” and that they would be the star of the dinner, so I had to bring a dessert that would be just as fantastic – Dobos Torte!
“The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. (You may come across recipes which have anywhere between six and 12 layers of cake; there are numerous family variations!) It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners’ and Gingerbread Makers’ Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.” quoted from the Daring Baker’s Forum.
The recipe is fairly easy. The sponge cake was very simple to make and came out very light and springy. I decided to make individual tortes so I cut the cake into 24 small circles. The butter-cream was also very light but I was very disappointed as I used a very dark chocolate and it came out very light in color, this was not what I had wanted. The topping to the torte is a caramel topping that is made with lemon juice, I used orange with a touch of cardamon added. The topping was suppose to be some sponge cake that was drizzled with the caramel topping, I was not sure about this, so I practiced on some extra pieces of sponge cake. I was glad I did as I thought the caramel would make the cake too chewy. Instead, I attempted to spin the caramel into “spun sugar”, which ended up being a very fun process and I spent a good part of the afternoon spinning away! The end result was light and very flavorful dessert. I would make this again, but I would try to use a different butter-cream as I would have preferred it to have a much darker look and taste.
A big thank you to Angela and Lorraine for being our wonderful hostesses this month and for picking a great challenge. Be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for more tortes as well as Food Wishes to see what else we had for dinner that night!
Recipe: Dobos Torte
Equipment
2 baking sheets
9” (23cm) springform tin and 8” cake tin, for templates
mixing bowls (1 medium, 1 large)
a sieve
a double boiler (a large saucepan plus a large heat-proof mixing bowl which fits snugly over the top of the pan)
a small saucepan
a whisk (you could use a balloon whisk for the entire cake, but an electric hand whisk or stand mixer will make life much easier)
metal offset spatula
sharp knife
a 7 1/2” cardboard cake round, or just build cake on the base of a sprinfrom tin.
piping bag and tip, optional
Prep times
Sponge layers 20 mins prep, 40 mins cooking total if baking each layer individually.
Buttercream: 20 mins cooking. Cooling time for buttercream: about 1 hour plus 10 minutes after this to beat and divide.
NB. The sponge layers can be prepared in advance and stored interleaved with parchment and well-wrapped in the fridge overnight.
1.Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F (200C).
2.Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9″ (23cm) springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn’t touch the cake batter.)
3.Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner’s (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes. (You can do this step with a balloon whisk if you don’t have a mixer.)
4.In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup (81g) of confectioner’s (icing)sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.
5.Line one of the baking sheets with a circle-marked paper. Using a small offset spatula, spread about 3/4cup of the batter in an even layer, filling in the traced circle on one baking sheet. Bake on the top rack for 5 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned. While this cake bakes, repeat the process on the other baking sheet, placing it on the centre rack. When the first cake is done, move the second cake to the top rack. Invert the first cake onto a flat surface and carefully peel off the paper. Slide the cake layer back onto the paper and let stand until cool. Rinse the baking sheet under cold running water to cool, and dry it before lining with another parchment. Continue with the remaining papers and batter to make a total of six layers. Completely cool the layers. Using an 8″ springform pan bottom or plate as a template, trim each cake layer into a neat round. (A small serrated knife is best for this task.)
Directions for the chocolate buttercream:
NB. This can be prepared in advance and kept chilled until required.
1.Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2.Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.
3.Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.
4.Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5.When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.
Lorraine’s note: If you’re in Winter just now your butter might not soften enough at room temperature, which leads to lumps forming in the buttercream. Male sure the butter is of a very soft texture I.e. running a knife through it will provide little resistance, before you try to beat it into the chocolate mixture. Also, if you beat the butter in while the chocolate mixture is hot you’ll end up with more of a ganache than a buttercream!
Directions for the caramel topping:
1.Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel top. To make the caramel topping: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Score the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.
2.Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-coloured caramel.
3.The top layer is perhaps the hardest part of the whole cake so make sure you have a oiled, hot offset spatula ready. I also find it helps if the cake layer hasn’t just been taken out of the refrigerator. I made mine ahead of time and the cake layer was cold and the toffee set very, very quickly—too quickly for me to spread it. Immediately pour all of the hot caramel over the cake layer. You will have some leftover most probably but more is better than less and you can always make nice toffee pattern using the extra to decorate. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut through the scored marks to divide the caramel layer into 12 equal wedges. Cool another minute or so, then use the edge of the knife to completely cut and separate the wedges using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.
Angela’s note: I recommend cutting, rather than scoring, the cake layer into wedges before covering in caramel (reform them into a round). If you have an 8” silicon round form, then I highly recommend placing the wedges in that for easy removal later and it also ensures that the caramel stays on the cake layer. Once set, use a very sharp knife to separate the wedges.
Assembling the Dobos
1.Divide the buttercream into six equal parts.
2.Place a dab of chocolate buttercream on the middle of a 7 1/2” cardboard round and top with one cake layer. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 4 more cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the sides of the cake.
3.Optional: press the finely chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of the cake.
4.Propping a hazelnut under each wedge so that it sits at an angle, arrange the wedges on top of the cake in a spoke pattern. If you have any leftover buttercream, you can pipe rosettes under each hazelnut or a large rosette in the centre of the cake. Refrigerate the cake under a cake dome until the icing is set, about 2 hours. Let slices come to room temperature for the best possible flavour.
I discovered the Gourmet Worrier a few months ago when I stumbled upon a post titled Snot Blocks, the name alone had me intrigued! I was further enticed into Nanette’s home through her beautiful site where she writes about not only food, but family, love and travel. Then we found each other on Twitter. For me I felt like I had just found my twin, we were so much alike, this was simply pleasurable! The past few months, we have shared numerous tweets, emails and I am noshing, very often over at her site. A couple weeks ago, I got a message that her charming husband, Stephen, was going to be out in San Francisco and she wanted to know if I could recommend some places for him to visit. So, I dusted off my very rusty restaurant list, gave it an update and sent it on. Literally, minutes after sending, I get a message from Stephen, thanking me for the list and asking if we would like to get together with him – BUT OF COURSE! We knew there was only one place in the city that he HAD to eat at, it was a must …….. Chez Us.
We love entertaining but we don’t do it as often as we would like, so we were pretty excited to be having a guest for dinner. Now we needed to plan a delicious but casual meal. There were so many dishes that we thought about making, from grilled pork tenderloin to a Moroccan Lamb dish, we decided to let it simmer in our minds until Sunday morning. The weather was beautiful when we woke up so we decided it was a must to light up the grill and dine al fresco. We wanted the meal to have freshest ingredients that are available in the bay area, sort of the season’s bounty. The menu we decided on was:
Sazerac
Spicy Walnut Spread
Warmed Olives over Goat Cheese
Toasted Baguette Rounds
Fig, Melon & Prosciutto Salad
Grilled Porterhouse Steaks with Warmed Cherry Tomatoes
Hasselback Potatoes
Mixed Berry and Passion Fruit Brown Sugar Cardamon Pavlova
Now we have never met Stephen in person. I know of his blog (check out the work he has done with UNICEF) and we follow each other via Twitter. I know him through Nanette as well. I like her and was sure we would like him. Upon arrival Lenny wanted to serve cocktails. Instead of offering the usual cocktail of choice, the vodka tonic, Laudalino decided on making his favorite drink, the Sazerac. Lenny has not made one before so it was trial and error; this drink may not be the drink for trial and error either! The drink came out smooth and delicious but not quite the Sazerac he is use too drinking. Either way the cocktails were a great way to start the evening and were enjoyed equally by all.
As soon as Stephen walked through the door, we all hit it off. It was like a long lost friend was back in our lives. We had so much to talk about, from food to business, to just getting to know each other. Lenny and Stephen had lots of laughs commiserating over being with partners who are foodies and how they use to have “six pack abs” but now they get baked treats – Nanette, no worries, they love it, it was all in good fun & I completely stuck up for us!!! Thanks to technology, Nanette was able to join us via Skype, it was wonderful to be able to have her there with us. It was such an enjoyable evening, that we completely lost track of time and food, the evening flowed as smoothly as the wine. Okay Okay, I know you all love that we loved each other’s company, but where is the food!? Here are some highlights and recipes.
Recipe: Fig Salad
*adapted from David Tanis
figs
prosciutto
melon
fresh mint
Lay prosciutto on platter. Cut figs in half, scatter onto the prosciutto. Cut melon into thin slices and add to the platter. Thinly slice mint and scatter on top.
Recipe: Warm Olives with Goat Cheese
assorted olives
handful of fresh herbs – we used rosemary and thyme
zest from one lemon
sprinkle of olive oil
4oz goat cheese
Put everything into a frying pan and heat just until warmed. Flatten the goat cheese into a disk and put into a swallow serving bowl. Pour warmed olive mixture over the goat cheese. Serve. Eat.
Recipe: Mixed Berry and Passion Fruit Brown Sugar Cardamon Pavlova
*adapted from Food & Wine Magazine
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 teaspoon cardamon
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
6 large egg white at room temperature
1 cup chilled heavy cream
strawberries
blueberries
2 teaspoons sugar
passion fruit pulp, if you can’t find fresh use frozen
Heat oven to 275 with rack placed in the middle. Lightly butter 2 8-inch round cake pans. Line bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper. Pulse sugar and cornstarch in food processor until well combined. Beat egg whites with the pinch of salt at medium speed until they hold soft peaks. Increase speed to medium-high and slowly add sugar, a little at a time. After all sugar has been added beat for another minute. Add vinegar and vanilla bean paste and beat at high speed until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks, about 6 minutes. Spoon meringue between the two pans, smooth the tops. Bake meringues for 1 hour, until they have a crisp crust and feel dry to the touch, the insides may be slightly soft inside. Turn the oven off and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Let meringues sit in there until cool. Run a knife along the sides and carefully turn meringue out of the pans. Carefully remove the parchment paper. They will be very fragile, hand carefully.
Combine the berries in a bowl with two teaspoons of sugar and let sit for at least an hour before serving. Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Put one meringue onto a serving plate, spread half of the cream over it and spoon half of the fruit onto the cream. Drizzle spoonfuls (to taste) of the passion fruit pulp over the fruit. Top with other meringue and repeat the process. Serve. Eat.
Pureed boysenberries are sweetened with a verbena simple syrup and turned into a summer fresh sorbet.
I went back and forth on whether I should be making a creamy custard based ice cream or a light and fruity sorbet for National Ice Cream month as well as for the very fun event over at Savor The Thyme, Scotty Snacks and the Tangled Noodle. After a berry picking excursion it was obvious…..
This sorbet is outstanding and incredibly simple. The berries were naturally sweetened by the sun and they did not even need that much sugar. I had an abundance of verbena in the garden so I decided to make a little verbena infused simple syrup to replace the sugar I would normally add. The sorbet is refreshing, light and tastes just like it was picked from the vine – kid friendly, too!
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Recipe: Boysenberry Sorbet
4 cups of fresh boysenberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
handful of verbena
In a small saucepan dissolve the sugar in the water over a low heat. Add the verbena, bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and let sit overnight in the fridge. While the simple syrup is cooling, process the boysenberries in the food processor until smooth. Put into an air tight container and let sit in the fridge overnight as well. The next day mix the two together and then process in your ice cream maker, according to the instructions. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving. Serve. Eat.
In case you have been living under a frying pan for the past few months and are not familiar with Julie and Julia, it is the newest foodie movie coming out on August 7th. It is the story of Julia Child and Julie Powell and how their lives intertwined 41 years apart from each other. It is a movie, based on a book, which was based on a food blog. I am sure this will be a must see within the entire food blog community!
We were overjoyed when Kristen Tarnol, part of the marketing team over at Columbia Pictures contacted us to be one of their featured Food Blogs on the Food Blogs of the Day (thanks,Joy) segment of the Julie and Julia site. This was an honor, after all we would not only be in spirit with one of the best, Julia Child, but also in the company of some of the brightest raw food talent out there.
Julia Child holds a special place in our hearts. There are many reasons for us to love her: she grew up in San Francisco, which is our home; she lived in Cambridge, Mass, which is where Lenny grew up, well Somerville is right next door to Cambridge; she did not begin her cooking career until she was in her 40′s, I did not start this cooking site until I was in my 40s; she was a spy with the OSS, I have always had this secret desire to be an agent with 007; she lived in Paris, we dream about the day when we will have an apartment there and split our time between two countries; and she did not believe in “diets”, she ate it all, we both feel one should not diet but instead enjoy all food, whether it is cream, butter, red wine or cocktails before dinner! Julia, brought French cooking to all American homes, during the era we were growing up. We both remember watching her in awe as she flipped omelets in the air to introducing her chickens before roasting them; she was fun, messy and “real”. Julia was definitely a breath of fresh air for the cooking community. Years after the French Chef she stared with Jacque Pepin in Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home, which was equally as entertaining!
Forty one years later, Julie Powell, started a blog, before most of us even really knew what a blog was. She was going to chronicle her journey through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 365 days and 536 recipes later, she had a book published and now a movie!
When we were asked to be featured as one of the food blogs on the movie site, besides saying a big YES, my mind went wild trying to figure out which recipe to make. Would it be the quiche recipe that inspired me to actually make a quiche? Would it be a roasted chicken? Or maybe something more complicated and classically French such as beef bourguignon? Then, we found out that our debut date would be the 28th of July … I knew we would not have enough time to be as elaborate as we had hoped, since we were leaving for a long weekend of camping trip. Now the question was, “what Julia recipe would be appropriate for a camping trip!?! There was only one that came to mind, a classic Creme Brulee. According to Julia, France, Britain and Spain all claim to have invented this dessert, my two cents ….it is a classic Julia recipe.
We take creme brulee on all of our camping trips. We tried to recount this past weekend as to why we do it? We really cannot remember, it is just sort of our thing to do. As well we wondered, did Julia Child go camping and if she did would she take this luscious dessert? I normally use a different recipe but was thrilled to find a Julia Child recipe, it was equally as easy as well as delicious. And yes, it is really easy to take creme brulee on your next camping trip, just follow our steps below!
Recipe: Julia Child’s Creme Brulee
3 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup superfine sugar, I process refined sugar until powdered.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the cream into a stir in the vanilla bean and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, cover the pan, and let steep for 30 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in the mixing bowl until the yolks are thick, pale yellow, and form a fat, slowly dissolving ribbon when dropped from the whisk back into the bowl. Remove the vanilla bean from the hot cream. Temper the yolks, by slowly stirring the warm milk into the yolks, until all the cream has been added and the mixture is well mixed. Skim off any bubbles from the surface of the custard. Arrange ramekins in a baking pan and ladle the custard into each, leaving 1/4 inch at the top for the glaze. Set the baking pan in the oven and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the ramekins. Bake the custards for 30 – 35 minutes, until the tops are set but the custard in the center is still soft to the touch. Carefully remove the baking pan from the oven, and lift the ramekins from the hot water. Let them cool briefly, and then chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, over night. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of the powdered sugar over each custard and smooth it gently with the back of a spoon, forming an even layer of sugar that completely covers the surface. Using a cooking torch, melt the sugar until it starts to caramelize. Serve. Eat.
* if you want to take camping, do not do the sugar coating until you are ready to eat them. After baking and chilling, wrap each custard well with foil. Then seal in a zip lock container or bag and put in your cooler. Before eating proceed with the sugar and caramelizing step.
If you cannot wait until August 7th to catch a glimpse of the new movie this trailer will definitely wet your taste buds – Bon Appetite! As well you can follow Julie and Julia on Twitter for more culinary capers.
Blanc-Manger is a creamy dessert which is made out of milk, sugar, almond flour and thickened with gelatin. It has a similar texture of a panna cotta. Dorie includes fresh raspberries that are gently folded in before chilling.
Our sweet friend, Susan, of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy is the hostess of this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie challenge. Susan picked the Raspberry Blanc Manger. I normally follow a TWD recipes to the T, but this time around, I changed it up. I decided we did not need one big dessert in our house, so I cut the recipe in half, as well, I did not use a baking dish, I used ramekins. The only other change was that I used some of the fresh boysenberries that we had picked the week before.
The recipe is pretty simple and after the previous weeks challenge, this was welcomed. The base of the manger is a mixture of milk, almond flour (I processed almonds, until very fine, which gave the dessert a nice slightly rough texture), a little sugar and gelatin. After warming and cooling the above mixture, I gently folded in soft peaked whipping cream. I poured the mixture into ramekins that I lightly sprayed with canola oil, to make the unmolding would be perfect, then I let them sit in the refrigerator for 6 hours. I served the manger in a pool of boysenberries that I sweetened with a little bit of sugar as they were very ripe and naturally sweet.
The verdict: wonderfully light dessert, perfect for a hot summer evening when you want something sweet. Lenny thought the dish was very unique and liked the slightly nutty texture.
Don’t forget to be sure to check out all the other TWD Blanc Mangers - you will not be disappointed.
The recipe can be found over at Susan’s beautiful new site and there is a fantastic interview all about Susan over here!
Leftover Challah is turned into moist bread pudding with the addition of ripe summer nectarines and still firm blueberries. A egg custard flavored with cardamon and vanilla makes the flavors of summer even more exotic!
Remember that Challah I made? Well, I tucked the leftovers into the freezer with the intention of turning it into bread pudding. Laudalino and I both love bread pudding, it is a nice comfortable dessert for us both. A couple years ago we got hooked on the bread pudding at Tartine Bakery, if you don’t go to Tartine for anything else, go for the bread pudding. Everyday they have a different flavor: stone-fruit, banana, currants, etc… In fact, we were going there every Sunday, for breakfast. Yes, breakfast! We would have two coffees, a pastry and a big bowl of bread pudding; we had to stop, 5 pounds later and once we realized we really could not afford these $30 bread pudding breakfasts every Sunday!
I knew this extra challah would come in handy. I had some very ripe nectarines as well as some very sweet but not too soft blueberries. I toasted the challah, lightly and layered it with the fruit. Before baking, I covered the mixture with a very fragrant egg custard. I lightly pour some custard in, let the bread soak it in, and then pour more custard. I do this until all of the custard is used and the bread is well soaked. Then I slowly bake it. The end result is a very creamy egg custard bread pudding!
Recipe: Nectarine and Blueberry Challah Bread Pudding
1/2 loaf of challah, lightly toasted and torn into chunks
4 cups whole milk
8 eggs, cage free and organic preferred (taste better and better color)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons cardamon – or any flavoring you like
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 ripe nectarines, cut into chucks – you can use any fruit you like
2 cups blueberries
Preheat oven to 350. Butter a large baking dish, I like to use a souffle dish for this recipe. Make layers of bread and fruit. Mix together the milk, eggs, sugar, cardamon and vanilla until well mixed. Pour some of the egg custard over the bread and fruit, let it soak into the bread, then pour more egg custard over. Continue doing this until all the custard is used and has soaked into the bread. Put your dish on a cookie sheet and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, until set. You may have to cover with foil if it gets to dark. Serve warm. Eat.
