DRIVE BY RECIPE: EASY Bread and Butter Pudding with a little caramel, aka, I was home, I was hungry

I had bread, I had eggs..  that sounds like breakfast to me  The fun of breakfast when you're faced with bread and eggs is the combination that you use.  Anyone can make toast and throw an egg on it.  Not me, not today, sweetie, not today. 

On this particular day I thought to myself, "self...I need a good old fashioned british food... some bread and butter pudding". 

DRIVE BY BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING 

(WITH CARAMEL)

I mixed up 3 of my backyard eggs, some milk, a little salt and a small palmful of sugar. I add milk till it measures about 1 3/4 cup liquid.  Mine is screaming yellow because of my chickens' yolks are that color.  They are happy birds.

Then cut up some ciabatta slices, buttered the slices, sprinkle the smallest amount of sugar on the bread, slice it into little squares and toss it all in a dish.

Pour the eggy mixture over the bread and turned the oven on to 375.

Mmmmm, eggy gooey goodness. Press the bread down so it will  soak up the yummyness. I also was sure to let some of the pointy bits stick above so they'd get crispy and crunchy.

        

While the oven heats and the bread soaks, I read a little of my book...with company, it's weird to be me sometimes

   

375 degrees and 45 minutes later !!DING!! Lookie what I found in the (toaster)oven waiting for me *joy*

I will admit, sometimes my food tries very very hard for me and this is absolutely one of those times.  LOOK!  IT's a mountain!  oh I love the puffiness when it comes out of the oven.

Pouring a little caramel sauce on while it's puffy and hot... the more in my bowl.
   

I'm pretending this is my serving serving size but we all know I'm going to eat it all... well, I'm sharing a bit with teenageson but then, the rest is all me.

I poured a river of thick and sticky warm caramel down over for it to settle into the hills and valleys of my breakfast. It's warm and crisp and soft and thick and sticky and sweet and salty. As good as you think it is - it's better.  I officially don't care what happens for the rest of the day.

DRIVE BY CARAMEL SAUCE

There are no measurements here because this is a process not a recipe, quantity doesn't matter here, it's how you do what you do.

Put some sugar, maybe 3/4 cup? in a saucepan, I put a couple of tablespoons of water to moisten it and get it started and put it on high heat.  
NO stirring, swirling is fine. 
Swirl until it's the color you like then let it go one more second, take it off heat and pour in heavy cream until it's the color you like.  It WILL boil up so use a BIGGER pan than the size you think you need.  
Boil a minute or so then add more cream if it needs it, add a little salt and a little vanilla. 

There you go, it'll thicken a bit when it sits.  I like it pourable when it's cold so I added a little extra cream, oh yes I did.

Oh look at my lovely!

 

There you have it, breakfast :D  

/enjoy

Millionaire Shortbread *you're welcome* :)

I remember millionaire shortbread from back in the day.  I don't know if my mother, my aunts or my grandmother made it.  I think my mother made something similar to these, I just remember eating them.

It's my party piece.  No one in my house eats it but me so I make it to take away, sneaking the edge bits or a slice for myself of course.

It's best kept in the fridge and left to room temperature to serve.

It lasts a long time, well, if there's no one in your house.  Otherwise, sorry for your luck!

This is one of my favorite things.

I took it to a party last night and was delighted to over hear, "don't go near those chocolate things on the end, they're like crack! you'll be addicted immediately, I have to go outside to get away from them".


Here's some beauty shots
  
you can make it in a tart pan and cut it in wedges
 


in a square pan, cut into chunks
 
the chocolate cracks and the caramel oozes
 
dark chocolate or milk chocolate, oh look how flaky
 

The recipe:

BASE:

1 1/4 cups a/p flour
tsp salt
1 stick butter or margarine (YES! margarine works just fine here)

MIX with your fingers and press into an 8x8 prepared pan and prick it all over with a fork.  I prepare the glass dish with a stripe of parchment paper so I can lift the entire thing out in one piece for slicing.  And for slicing off the edges, in the name of square-ness, so I can eat them.

BAKE 350 about 20 minutes, until it's pale light golden around the edges.

COOL  (yes, I shove it straight from the oven into the fridge on either a rack or a tea towel. My patience? Not great)

CARAMEL LAYER

1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 can evaporated milk  (NOT sweetened condensed!)
tsp salt

Put all this in a medium sized pan on the stove.  Medium high heat.  Get a glass of wine and stir.  Stir some more and keep stirring, slowly, until the mixture looks and smells like caramel.

You just have to know how to do this, the mixture will boil like mad, get huge bubbles then smaller ones then suddenly, about 15 minutes later, it'll be lava.  The odd blurp and it'll color and thicken fast.  This is not the time to check your email or even talk on the phone.  I stand, with a glass of wine and stir.  I think about things sometimes but mostly I stir and cocktail.

When the caramel is the colour you like and thick, pour it over the cooled shortbread base. Straight back in the fridge if you have no patience, leave it out to set if you do.

CHOCOLATE LAYER:

1 cup chocolate chips, dark or milk or mix
1-2 tsp plain oil.

Nuke until it's melted, don't scorch it!  Stir it smooth and pour it over the caramel layer.  Score the chocolate layer immediately.

These are very very VERY rich so tiny is fine

Make these, love these, and let me know how it goes.  If you're one of the inner sanctum, keep inviting me to functions and I'll keep bringing these!  :)

/enjoy!