If you enjoyed the Cinnamon Streusel Brioch Bread then you will love this bread pudding. It practically melts in your mouth and is topped with a sweet crunchy streusel that adds texture and sweetness to every bite. The recipe is almost the same as the Cinnamon Streusel Brioch Bread except the loaf is baked without the streusel and saved for topping the bread pudding. It is so delicious it could be served as breakfast, brunch or dessert.
Continue reading
The one bread that never fails me is brioche. It’s the perfect bread to make bread pudding or french toast because the dough is made with butter and eggs with a hint of honey for sweetness. I always make a double batch, it must be OCD that I can’t make just one loaf. So on this baking day half of the dough was made into a cinnamon streusel loaf and the other half was saved for the best brioche rolls ever. The dough needs to chill in the refrigerator at least overnight so you can make it up ahead and store in the fridge for up to a week or 10 days. For me it’s a much easier process and works with my timetable. So if you want two loaves of Cinnamon Streusel Brioch then double the sugar/cinnamon mix and streusel. Or if you want some brioche rolls, I’ll leave that up to you.
Continue reading
Tortillas are a staple in our home, we eat them with practically everything. They are used as an edible bowl disguised as tacos, a spoon for sopping up chile, an edible wrap when we are craving a sandwich and my personal favorite, toasted on a comal and then slathered with butter and drizzled with honey. Homemade tortillas taste so good when made fresh but honestly they will last awhile and warm up nicely in the microwave or toasted on a comal or cast iron griddle. My only problem in making them was keeping up as I prepared the individual rolls into balls and then rolling them out before toasting. Good thing I had a helper handy. Joe came in and saved the day, running the individual balls of dough through the tortilla press and then passing them off to me to roll out a bit thinner so that they would toast up soft and fluffy. In no time we had a stack of tortillas ready to be devoured!
Continue reading
It’s chile season in New Mexico and beyond. One of the things I miss most about living in New Mexico is the smell of roasting green chile in the air. There is nothing like it! But in the last few years Hatch chile has come to me. Several years ago I found a grocery store across town that was roasting NM Hatch green chile and I filled my freezer full. In the last 2 – 3 years it has expanded and now we find chile across the Kansas City metro with roasters going at many grocery stores on any given Saturday in August and early September. I love this time of year and always save out the biggest and meatiest of chiles for rellenos. Making rellenos is a labor of love but it’s a messy tradition. These chile relleno chimichangas have a crunchy outer texture like a traditional relleno but it makes less mess without the batter. This is my second batch of chimi’s since we got our green chile. I’ve had green chile every day for a week now, for instance we’ve had green chile cheese burgers, green chile stew, quesadillas, breakfast burritos. I could go on and on!!
Continue reading
Every year I look forward to the fruits of summer. It’s my favorite time of year and makes me feel like celebrating with a pie. I found this recipe on Pinterest, created by “Simple as That” and it looked amazing. I was intrigued with the almond crust, I had not tried to make a crust with almonds before. It was really really good. I was also fortunate to find some sweet and flavorful fruit to work with, adding sliced peaches and plums along with dark cherries, blackberries and raspberries. The crust tasted slightly like a pecan sandy cookie and complemented the sweet fruit filling. You can’t go wrong with this pie, try any fruit combination you wish. And don’t worry about the imperfections, it is rustic after all!
Continue reading
Over the years I have experimented with many ways to make pizzas from scratch. Whether it’s the ingredients in the dough or the way it is cooked there are always subtle differences in the taste and texture. These days I cook pizza at a high temp which really makes my kitchen hot so the next best option is the outdoor grill. This pizza I call rustic simply because of the way it looks. It’s not the prettiest pizza by far but it was so good there wasn’t a slice left on the table. I picked up some heirloom tomatoes and roasted them in the oven with some salt, pepper and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. And I tried a new cheese, Burrata cheese, which is similar to fresh mozzarella but it has a creamy center. You can’t slice it, you have to spread it and I wondered if I might have made a mistake using it. But it turned out better than I had expected especially in how it tasted. I thought it would be too thin and run over the edges of the dough but those fears were unfounded. The texture remains creamy but resembles the flavors of fresh mozzarella. One more note, I added fresh basil to one pizza after it came off the grill and the other I layered on the pizza to wilt on the grill. My own preference was that the fresh basil tasted better, just something about the fresh basil taste made it for me. So whenever your pizza cravings come calling in the summer, be sure to try one on the grill. You will absolutely love it!!
Continue reading
Have you ever wondered what to do with those sweet mini peppers that come in assorted colors of red, yellow and orange. They may be small but they pack a lot of flavor, especially when roasted and stuffed full of Monterey Jack and cream cheese. Wrap a thin strip of steak around the stuffed pepper and grill it until the cheeses melt and ooze out like a molten cheese lava. Oh, they are so good!! Some might think they should be served as an appetizer but Joe and I decided they were the main event with a leafy green salad on the side.
Continue reading
After 6 years, An Inspired Cook is getting a new look. There are now more recipe categories with a photo of each recipe to make it easier to find that perfect recipe and visualize how it might look. I hope you all will come along with me for the next chapter. Here’s one of my favorites . . . fried pies. I have to admit they are my guilty pleasure, there I said it! Honestly I love all pies but I am especially fond of fruit pies. Sweet fried pies which are sometimes referred to as hand pies are filled with any number of fruits and sometimes even cream fillings like chocolate or lemon. For these cherry pies I opted to used frozen cherries over fresh. Frozen cherries break down when cooked and emit the juice that’s needed to make a glossy pie filling that tastes so good in a fried pie. Then there’s the lemon glaze, the oh so yummy icing on the cake . . . um I mean pie!!
Continue reading
This is another “Food Paradise” favorite that I found on the Travel Channel. It comes from the Taco Guild Gastropub in Phoenix, AZ, ranked No. 2 on their countown. One of their signature tacos uses a rub that coats big chunks of beef with cocoa powder, espresso powder, Ancho chiles, plus a few more flavorful ingredients. Once the beef is saturated with the rub it goes straight onto a hot grill to sear. The beef is turned over each side to sear until it is a bit charred and dark in color. Next place the beef in a roasting pan and pour brewed coffee over it. Cover it with aluminum foil where it goes into a 300 degree oven for 5 – 6 hours. It is so tender and so flavorful when it comes out of the oven and virtually falls apart at the slightest touch. Taco Guild serves their tacos with a mango salsa topped with cotija cheese. I have to say they were spot on as the mango salsa added just the right amount of sweetness to balance the cocoa and coffee flavors. There was a lot of shredded beef to go around. I don’t know exactly how many tacos we ate but for several days we were in taco heaven.
Continue reading
I cannot in any way take credit for these brownies. They were created, taste tested and approved from Bakes in Slippers and they are the most delectable brownies I’ve ever made. One of my favorite things about this recipe is that all the ingredients go together in one pot on top of the stove which makes for very little clean up. Best of all is the moist chewy texture and dark chocolaty taste. A sprinkle of sea salt on top just enhances the flavor. Calling all chocolate lovers, you will not want to miss out on these!
Continue reading
