Baking and Scrapbooking Fun

Well I've been having fun looking through magazines and cutting out recipes and decorating ideas while being sick for the past 6 days. I was feeling more upbeat yesterday so I actually got some stuff done. Did a lot of cleaning and while I was out and about doing laundry I figured I'd try some of those recipes I cut out during this past week. So off to the grocery store I went while my laundry was drying and picked up some ingredients. I decided to try the Argula, Bacon, and Cheese bread budding recipe for dinner and the Orange Cake Pudding for dessert. In retrospect that's a lot of pudding, but hey I'm sick I have weird cravings.

The Argula, Bacon, and Cheese bread pudding actually turned out decent, you need to be in the right mood to eat it though I think. And it does not keep well to the next day, I tried reheating some leftovers this morning, but the bread absorbed too much of the custard overnight and it's now way too mushy. So note to self, next time you feel like eating it, halve the recipe so it's just the right amount for two. No pictures of this one sorry, bread pudding just really does not look appetizing, and toss in argula and bacon and it looks really weird, so I opted not to take a picture.

The Orange Cake Pudding, however, was awesome. I altered the recipe a little bit, with a little less orange juice and a tablespoon more of lemon juice with a little extra orange zest. It wasn't that hard to make, I have just always hated grating for zest. Oh what am I saying, I hate grating in general. I think vanilla ice cream would have tasted amazing with this, but I didn't feel like making a second trip to the grocery store.

Orange Pudding Cake

2 large navel oranges

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs - separated

1 cup whole milk

1/2 stick unsalted butter - melted and cooled

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Butter 2 quart shallow baking pan.
• Finely grate 3 tablespoons orange zest from the oranges.
• Squeeze 1/2 cup juice from oranges over strainer to separate juice from pulp.
• Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
• Whisk together yolks, milk, butter, zest, orange juice, and lemon juice in small bowl and add to flour mixture, whisking until just combined.
• Beat egg whites in another large bowl with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks.
• Stir about 1/4 of egg whites into batter to lighten.
• Fold in remaining egg whites gently but thoroughly.
• Pour into buttered baking dish, and place in larger pan filled with water for a hot water bath.
• Bake until puffed and golden, about 45-55 minutes.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.