Easy Hazelnut Bread Pudding

It's funny how freeing yourself from the pressure to create actually frees up more time to be creative. Writing last night's post was therapeutic. To admit that I barely know where I'm going day-by-day, and that it's okay to still be figuring things out. After resolving to be more gentle with myself today I've already seen a turn around. After months of wrestling with an idea I've had for my soon to be opening web store I finally had the breakthrough I needed. I've had to keep a notepad document open to keep up with the ideas that have been flowing since this morning. What's that saying about needing to empty your cup in order to fill it again? It turns out I was holding on to more stress than I'd realized.

To capitalize on my ambitions I turned to the kitchen. In the aftermath of Christmas I had a leftover loaf of once glorious French bread from my favorite bakery sitting on my counter as hard as a rock. I couldn't bear to part with it, so I took to the internet. My cupboards in need of some serious restocking I was at a loss. I have a recipe for my all time favorite bread pudding, but that calls for some heavy duty amounts of cream and eggs. In a pinch, I stumbled on this recipe from Paula Deen. After some mild adapting I gave it a shot and it was just the thing for a chilly afternoon. While not as decadent as a typical bread pudding, this recipe is significantly faster to pull together and is a lot more flexible for what you may have on hand.

Easy Hazelnut Bread Pudding
(Adapted from this recipe from Paula Deen.)

2 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 loaf leftover crusty bread; cubed
1/2 cup brown sugar; lightly packed
4 tablespoons unsalted butter; softened
1 cup hazelnuts; coarsely chopped

Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9x13" baking dish.

In a large bowl combine granulated sugar, beaten eggs, milk, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Add bread cubes and mix until evenly coated. Set aside to soak for 15 minutes. While the bread is soaking combine brown sugar, butter, and hazelnuts in a small bowl. This will be your crumble topping.

With the bread soaked, pour into your prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle crumble topping over the bread and place in the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the custard has set and the top is a lovely golden brown. Serve either warm or chilled as desired and store covered leftovers in the fridge.

When gathering ingredients for this recipe substitute what you have on hand! The only milk I had left was 2% and that worked beautifully. Don't have any hazelnuts? Pecans, walnuts, or sliced almonds would also be delicious. I served this with some spiced whipped cream, but you could also add half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the crumble topping.

Vintage Kitchen: Frankfurter Pilaf

Today would have been my grandma's birthday. When I sat down to start working on the Vintage Kitchen series the pop-up alert from my gmail account both startled me with its timing and gave me a happy reminder. My grandma spent a lot of time in the kitchen. She had a recipe box of trusted favorites, but she also had scraps all over the house of something she saw that morning on television and a bookshelf full of her QVC favorites. She didn't welcome very much hands-on help, but many of my favorite childhood memories revolved around sitting at the kitchen table while she tinkered at the counter. Her heart was in the food she prepared for us.

When I rediscovered her recipe box nestled away in my cabinet I knew I needed to do something with it. I needed to find a way to reconnect with those memories. And thus, Vintage Kitchen was born. In this series I will be cooking my way through her recipes, updating them to suit my tastes (I'm not so fond of oleo…) and sharing them here with you. At the end I'm going to take my favorites and self publish a mini-cookbook in celebration of her memory.

Today's recipe? One of my favorite comfort foods, Frankfurter Pilaf. There is very little in this recipe that is particularly healthy, but then again what comfort food is? This rich, buttery dish is reminiscent of fall nights. The weather getting just crisp enough to turn on the fireplace in the family room. It also makes the best leftovers.

2 1/4 cups uncooked rice
1 TBS chicken bouillon concentrate
1 large onion, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 TBS olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 hotdogs (1/2 lb) sliced

Cook rice combining the bouillon concentrate with the water used to simmer said rice. I did this in my trusty rice cooker. While that's simmering, melt the butter and olive oil together in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, stirring occasionally. When the onion has just started to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes, add the garlic. Lower the heat and stir occasionally for another 3-5 minutes. Add the hotdog slices to the pan and cook until heated through. Fold in the cooked rice and remove from the heat.

For a more complete meal, balance the richness with some roasted or steamed broccoli.