Panettone Bread Pudding with Amaretto Sauce

Recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

This recipe is too good not to share! I made it for dessert for my family's Christmas dinner. It was delicious and so easy to make! Enjoy!

Ingredients

Sauce:
* 1/2 cup whipping cream
* 1/2 cup whole milk
* 3 tablespoons sugar
* 1/4 cup amaretto liqueur (or if you don't cook with alcohol, you can substitute 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon almond extract for 2 tablespoons amaretto)
* 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Bread Pudding:
* 1 (1-pound) loaf panettone bread, crusts trimmed, bread cut into 1-inch cubes
* 8 large eggs
* 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
* 2 1/2 cups whole milk
* 1 1/4 cups sugar

Directions

To make the sauce: Bring the cream, milk, and sugar to a boil in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. In a small bowl, mix the amaretto (or almond extract) and cornstarch to blend and then whisk into the cream mixture. Simmer over medium-low heat until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Set aside and keep warm. (The amaretto sauce can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm before serving.)

To make the bread pudding: Lightly butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking dish. Arrange the bread cubes in the prepared dish. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, milk, and sugar to blend. Pour the custard over the bread cubes, and press the bread cubes gently to submerge. Let stand for 30 minutes, occasionally pressing the bread cubes into the custard mixture. (Recipe can be prepared up to this point 2 hours ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake until the pudding puffs and is set in the center, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly. Spoon the bread pudding into bowls, drizzle with the warm amaretto sauce, and serve.

Perfect Lemon Cupcakes

Thanks Em for the picture I stole from your blog.

Some of you asked me for this recipe and since I love lemon at Easter time I thought now is a great time to share.

Perfect Lemon Cupcakes
Cake:
1 package lemon cake mix
1 C sour cream
3/4 C water
3/4 C oil
4 eggs
1 small package lemon instant pudding

Mix dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients. Mix with electric mixer on medium speed for about two minutes. Use a strong mixer, this batter is thick. For cupcakes, bake them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (I was able to get 24 very full cupcakes from the recipe). For regular cake, pour into a greased 9×11 pan or two round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don’t over bake or the cake will be too dry! The toothpick test works to check to see if they’re done.
The original recipe said that the cupcakes will fall after they come out of the oven, but this is normal and to just fill up the indentation with more frosting. I didn’t have this problem at all!

Lemon Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, very soft
6-8 C powdered sugar
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of sugar, then the juice and the zest. Beat until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency (I added 6 cups total). Use and store at room temperature. (Don’t refrigerate and it will last in a covered container for about three days.)

Garnish with berries, if desired right before serving.

fruit pizza - light version

I LOVE this recipe because there is no milk, eggs or sugar :) Still white flour but you could easily substitute it for whole wheat, although I'm not sure how that would taste (ick) :p

Sugar cookie recipe

1 package (8oz) light cream cheese softened
1 cup Smart Balance light butter spread softened
2/3 cup Splenda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour

BEAT cream cheese, butter, Splenda, and vanilla with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. mix in flour. Refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Roll out dough on greased floured pizza pan. Poke with fork. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting

1 package (8oz) light cream cheese softened
1/2 cup Splenda
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix cream cheese, Splenda and vanilla until creamy and spread on cooled cookie.

Gather your assorted sliced fruits of various colors. My favorites to use for this recipe are strawberries, kiwi, and mandarine oranges. Arrange sliced fruits on top as preferred. Refrigerate. Serve in triangular pizza slices. Enjoy!

Crazy Awesome Caramel Brownies

Oh, and they are pretty easy too. Ingredients are in BLUE and directions are in GREEN.

For the Dough:
1 German Chocolate Cake Mix (I've tried other chocolate kinds, German really is best in this recipe.)
3/4 Cup melted Butter (that is 1 & 1/2 cubes)
1/3 Cup Evaporated Milk

Mix three ingredients together. It will be kind of like cookie dough consistency.

For the Caramel sauce:
1 Bag Caramels
1/3 Cup Evaporated Milk

Heat together the two ingredients in a sauce pan over low heat until melted, stirring well.

For the middle:
Chocolate chips, nuts, coconut or whatever strikes your fancy.

In a 9x13 pan (or a brownie pan, but no smaller.) spread out half of the dough.
Bake just that for 8 minutes at 350 F.
Take it out, drizzle caramel mixture over the top (it will make it puff up a bit) and then sprinkle the toppings over the caramel.
Then glop the rest of the dough on to the top of the caramel like dumplings or a cobbler. It won't cover it completely. That's ok.
Bake for another 15 minutes and then let cool completely. I keep them in the fridge. They are best when set, so be patient!

Addicting, Fake, Key Lime Pie

1 small box lime jello- Use half the water recommended
2-6oz (Regular single serving size) Key Lime yogurts
8 oz cool whip (Half of a regular sized container)
1 prepared graham cracker crust or 4-6 of the mini sized ones.(Or homemade if you feel up to it.)

Mix the Jello and water, again, only using half of the water that it says on the box. Do not wait for it to set.
Add in the yogurt, blend together until incorporated.
Add cool whip and blend until smooth.
Pour into shells.
Chill 4-5 hours.
Decorate with cool whip or limes, but who has time for that?
Eat them like they are good for you. They are not*. I could eat seven of these without even breaking a sweat. Just saying.

* I've made this with non-fat yogurt and low-fat cool whip and it is still good. The tangy nature of the flavor covers a lot. But it is sooo much better with the regular ingredients.