Today's Breakfast

This was breakfast this morning..........



a homemade baked chocolate side pie. Oh my! It was buttery. It was chocolatey. It was perfect!

So I made my very first pie crust from scratch a couple of nights ago. I know! I'm almost 40 and I've never done that before. I resoved earlier this year to cook more from scratch which brought me to making my own pie crust for the pot pie I was making. The recipe I used however made enough dough for two crusts. So this dough sat in my fridge a couple of days while I figured out what to do with it. I was not going to throw it away. No way! So I decided to use it to make a long time but seldom enjoyed favoirite of mine-the chocolate side pie.

Growing up in the South, side pies were often on the table at family gatherings. Most of the time they were fruit side pies but ever so often there would be chocolate side pies. Oh, the joy! It always felt like a special gift to get to enjoy one of those.

The thing is they are incredibly easy to make. I may start making them more often.

Want to make your own?
Cut circles out of your pie crust. ( I was able to get 4 out of the crust I had. You'll need to re-knead and roll in between.)
Fill with a mixture of cocoa powder and sugar.
Dot with butter.
Fold over and crimp edges with a fork.
Sprinkle sugar lightly over top.
Bake at 425 degrees until done-This was trial and error and I think they took about 12-14 minutes total to cook. I just kept checking on them.
Enjoy!

Let Them Eat Cake

Jessica at Life As Mom is asking us to show her our cakes-birthday cakes to be exact. So I thought I'd share the cakes I made my girls last year for their birthdays. We still have several months to go until it's time to bake another birthday cake but the discussions have already begun. They go on all year round just like the Halloween costume discussions.

Sister requested a Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream cake for her birthday. I made a chocolate layer cake and used one layer for the bottom. I topped that with Breyers chocolate ice cream with chopped up Reese's cups mixed in. On top of that was a layer of chocolate ganache. Finally, I used more chopped up Reese's Cups to top off the cake. It was awesome! We all loved that cake.



Baby Girl wanted a Butterfly cake for her birthday. But she also had very specific requests for the type of cake and frosting for the cake. She wanted red velvet cake with chocolate frosting. I wasn't sure how I was going to make a beautiful brown butterfly at first. It took some creative thinking but I finally figured it out. The whole red velvet cake/chocolate frosting combo was a bit unorthodox as well but the birthday girl gets the cake she wants if at all possible. The cake was affectionately referred to as the bleeding butterfly cake ala Steel Magnolias. I found a pattern for shaping a butterfly out of a round cake. I used candy melts for the butterfly's body and pipe cleaner for it's antennae. To make it bright and colorful I used a mixture of sprinkles and M&Ms. It was a huge hit with Baby Girl!





Stop by Life As Mom to see more birthday cakes and maybe even a few birthday desserts.

Bread Pudding

As I mentioned in my previous post, The Man wanted bread pudding for his birthday instead of a cake. I was all for that. It's been far too long since I made it. We were given this recipe by a server at the Gumbo Shop in New Orleans when we were there back in 1998. It's your basic recipe but oh, so good. I did alter the sauce recipe.

Bread Pudding:
1/2 stick butter
2 cups milk
1 qt. cubed day-old french bread
1/2 cup cubed pineapple
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, beaten


Combine milk and butter in a saucepan and heat until butter is melted. In a large mixing bowl combine bread, pineapple and raisins. Add milk and butter. Mix and let stand several minutes to let bread absorb liquid.

Combine sugar, salt and spices. Add beaten eggs and vanilla and mix well. Pour over bread-milk mixture and stir until well mixed. Pour into well-greased(I use a spray) 1 1/2 quart baking dish or black iron skillet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm with sauce.

Sauce:

1/2 stick butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk with tsp vanilla(original recipe calls for 1/4 cup bourbon)

Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Slowly beat in milk/vanilla mixture until it forms a sauce.

We added a little ice cream for good measure. Enjoy!