We eat well on Christmas

This Christmas was a simple one for us. It was only Charles and me. But I loved it! We each got some pretty amazing presents (even though that doesn't matter at all) and we enjoyed watching the kitties play with their Christmas gifts.

I did not put a whole lot of thought into Christmas dinner, but I did find some amazing recipes of new dishes to try (Pinterest, of course).

Our Christmas breakfast tradition is Chocolate French Toast. I have shared this on the blog before. It is such a yummy breakfast that I should make it more often. We made homemade Oatmeal Bread in the bread machine to use. It was a great choice.

Our dinner included smoked chicken. Charles did a great job with that! As our sides we enjoyed Sweet Potato Casserole, Garlic Pecan Broccoli and homemade Hawaiian rolls. Everything turned out delicious! The sweet potato casserole has a fantastic crunchy topping. The recipes makes a lot, so we have been enjoying this everyday since Christmas. The Hawaiian rolls were good...because what homemade bread isn't good, right? But I don't know if it really tasted like Hawaiian rolls. I might try another recipe to compare.

Normally, we have birthday cake for Jesus as our dessert on Christmas. This year Jesus wanted bread pudding. I found an amazing recipe for New Orleans style bread pudding with a coconut praline sauce. SOOOOO good! We also used homemade Oatmeal bread for this recipe.

Pecan Pie Bread Pudding

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently made bread pudding. It is not the first time, but my first bread pudding was made with croissants. From what I remember it tasted good but was really rich. And coming from me that means the average person would go into a sugar coma from eating it.

This time I gave Charles two recipes to choose from. One had a ton more ingredients which probably means it was extra yummy. He did not choose that one. He chose Pecan Pie Bread Pudding. The recipe is from Something Swanky. 

Mine did not turn out like what I imagine bread pudding to be. It was VERY dry. I may have used a little  more bread than called for, but I don't know if less bread would have helped out that much.

Picture borrowed from Something Swanky

Ingredients
8 cups bite-sized bread pieces
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
 1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup pecan, halved and chopped
(I also threw in about a cup of chocolate chips because I love chocolate)

Prepare an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish by spraying with cooking spray. Place all of the bread pieces into the baking dish. Pour the melted butter over the bread.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the pecans (and chocolate chips if you are like me).

Pour evenly over the bread pieces. Use a spatula to push the bread pieces around in the dish until all are coated in the syrupy mixture. Bake at 375º for 45 minutes.

Bread Machine: White bread

Charles has become a fan of bread pudding. We have had it a couple times recently at restaurants. There are so many different kinds! I decided to try my hand at it, but first I had to make the bread with our handy dandy bread machine! I kept it simple and made regular white bread.

The first time we attempted the bread we were not paying attention to it and it needed more water. By the time we realized this it was too late to add any more. The bread came out looking pretty funny. Charles still ate the soft, white middle.

The second time I made it I was more vigilant and everything came out great!

I followed a Pinterest recipe, but it was not too different from the recipe in my bread machine's manual. Here is a link to the one I used: Easy Bread Machine White Bread

Ingredients
1 cup warm milk (microwave about 1 minute)
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
2 Tablespoons butter, cut into 4 pieces
(you may need to add extra water. I added about 1 1/2 Tablespoons)

Add ingredients in the order listed. Make a well in the middle to add yeast. Tuck the butter pieces into the 4 corners.

Set for basic/white cycle, Medium crust, and 1.5 lb loaf.

Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding

Today I am going to share a recipe for Croissant and Chocolate Bread Pudding. I have only made this once and it was actually about a year ago. It was so delicious and it was very rich (and coming from me that says a lot...I never describe a dessert as rich). This would make a great recipe to bring to a holiday potluck.

Ingredients
6 large egg yolks
2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
6 croissants (about 1 pound), cut into 1 inch pieces
4oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 8 inch square pan or other shallow 2 quart baking dish.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Add the croissants and chocolate. Mix to combine. (I think when I made it, I did not have any nutmeg, so I omitted that).

Transfer the mixture to the pan and bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 to 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.