Apple bread pudding pie

This pie is not what you think. It had a creamy texture, much like bread pudding that's laced with apple chunks. The crumb topping adds a contrasting texture that's crunchy and sweet. Each bite is a treat.

I baked this pie for the crew at the El Dorado Western Railway engine house last weekend. It's the third recipe for the black bean chili menu.

APPLE BREAD PUDDING PIE

Use Jonathan, Rome Beauty or Winesap apples for this recipe.

1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell
3 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 slices bread, cut up (about 3 cups)
2 medium cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For crust, line the unbaked pastry shell with a double thickness of foil. Bake in a 450 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Remove foil. Bake for 4 minutes more. Remove from oven. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl stir together eggs, applesauce, yogurt, granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, oats and cinnamon. Stir in bread and apples and set aside.

For topping, in another bowl stir together 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in nuts. Pour filling into the prepared pie crust. Sprinkle topping over filling. Cover edge of crust with foil. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil; bake 30 minutes more or until top is golden and fruit is tender. Makes 8 servings.

Dutch Oven Bread Pudding

BREAD PUDDING: Break up any old leftover biscuits or sourdough bread. Mix soft with milk and sugar; some spices. Dump in some raisins and cook slow in dutch oven. If you have eggs you can add them to the pudding.

--Slim Ellison, Globe, Arizona
Chuck Wagon Cookin' by Stella Hughes
(Univ. Ariz. Press, 1974)

I was initially apprehensive about baking a traditional bread pudding in a cast iron Dutch oven. In the camp kitchen, I always bake the pudding in a water bath. The water bath is an essential element when baking custard-like recipes.

The water bath insulates delicate foods like custard and quiches from the intense direct heat in the oven. I used this technique in the Dutch oven in September 2005 when I baked individual custard cups.

Yesterday I didn't want to fool with placing a glass dish or pie pan inside the 12-inch Dutch oven. Since we were traveling to my brother's house in Davis, California for a family gathering, I wanted a dish that came together with little fuss.

I found an appealing recipe by Dian Thomas, author of Recipes for Roughing it Easy, in Camp Cooking: 100 Years, 1905-2005. Two features of Thomas' recipe didn't make sense to me -- the use of an aluminum foil liner and her layered approach to the recipe. Otherwise, the recipe is essentially the same, including her use of sour cream.

DUTCH OVEN BREAD PUDDING

Add 1/2 cup dried fruit to the recipe if desired.

6 eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound sliced bread, cubed
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a medium bowl, mix eggs, granulated sugar, sour cream, half-and-half and vanilla. Grease 12-inch Dutch oven with melted butter. Place bread in oven. Stream butter over bread and toss to thoroughly coat. Evenly sprinkle brown sugar and nutmeg over bread. Toss to combine. Pour egg mixture over bread and thoroughly mix. Let set about 20 minutes until the bread adsorbs most of the mixture.

Bake in moderate oven (6 coals under oven and 16 on lid) for 40 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or cold. Serves 8 to 12.

Sugar High Friday #12 -- Caramel Custard Mugs in a Dutch Oven

Just incase you’re looking for an excuse to satisfy your sweet tooth -- today inaugurates 'Round the Chuckbox’s partnership with Sugar High Friday, an “international sweet tooth blogging extravaganza.”

September’s theme is Cooking up Custard, hosted by Elise over at Simply Recipes. Childhood memories of custard, tapioca and rice pudding prompted me to bake a Dutch oven caramel custard from Retro Ranch: A Roundup of Classic Cowboy Cookin’ by C.W. “Butch” Welch (Collectors Press: Portland, Oregon, 2005).

Cee Dub’s recipe is essentially the same one that Grandma Bertha Karoly cooked in the 1930s for three growing boys (dad, his brother and their first cousin). Grandma Bert’s copy of Any One Can Bake (Royal Baking Powder Co.: New York City, 1927) is scribed full of recipes, notes and prices from the Depression. (Do you know that a 10-pound bag of granulated sugar cost 53 cents in 1937? That’s an 18 cent increase from 1932!)

Like most older recipes, both cookbooks call for scalded milk. Scalding milk (heating it until just under a boil, about 180 degrees) isn’t necessary today. Scalding serves two purposes: it kills pathogenic bacteria and it destroys enzymes that may affect the way milk performs in a recipe. Modern pasteurization already destroys bacteria and enzymes.

Heating the milk really only serves one purpose: It raises the temperature of the custard mixture to speed cooking. Gently heat the milk to about 110 degrees, just until it’s warm to the touch. There’s no need to heat the milk to a scald.

Just be sure to temper the egg mixture. To temper, slowly drizzle about 1/2-cup of the warm milk into the egg and sugar mixture. This’ll bring the egg mixture up to temperature without cooking the eggs. (Scrambled eggs custard doesn’t appeal to anyone!) The slowly whisk the remaining milk into the egg mixture.

Ubiquitous enamel coffee mugs make the perfect vessel for this camp delight. Use ramekins if you have them. But, honestly, who packs glass or ceramic ramekins in a chuckbox?

CARAMEL CUSTARD MUGS IN A DUTCH OVEN

The tools needed to transform this old-time favorite into a camp dessert are already in your chuckbox -- a 12-inch deep-style Dutch oven and 6 coffee mugs to bake the custard. You’ll also need a medium saucepan to make the caramel and heat the milk.

1 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 eggs, slightly beaten
Dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups milk, warmed
Ground nutmeg

Heat 1/2 cup sugar in a sturdy 1-quart sauce over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is melted and golden brown. Divide sugar among 6 metal coffee mugs. Tilt mugs to coat the bottom. Allow syrup to harden in mugs. Place cups in 12-inch deep-style Dutch oven on a baking rack.

Mix eggs, remaining sugar, salt and vanilla. Gradually stir warm milk into egg and sugar mixture. Pour custard into the 6 coffee mugs. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Pour hot water into the pan to the level of the custard. It’ll take 6 to 8 cups of hot water.

Bake at 350 degrees with 8 coals underneath the oven and 16 on the lid. Bake until a knife inserted in the center of the custard comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Remove mugs from the water bath. Chill if desired.

There’s no need to invert the custard onto a plate. Serve it warm or chilled right out of the mug. Just be sure to scoop a spoonful of caramel from the bottom with eat bite.

Camp -2005 - Catch Up Day and Bread Pudding

Thursday is "catch up day" in the Northern California FC Camp kitchen. It allows the cooks to catch our breath and deplete some of the leftovers from the previous four days.

Leftovers are one of the 10 plagues of a poorly managed camp kitchen. Children's appetites vary from day to day and year to year. What's popular this year will flop next year. All camp kitchens -- including well-managed kitchens -- must plan to deal with leftovers.

To use most leftovers, we often reheat them to 165 degrees and place them directly on the serving line. Monday we served the leftover chicken tenders as an extra. And today, the French fries from Tuesday went on the serving line at lunch.

But some products, like 32 slices of French toast made from thick Texas toast, can't be re-heated. No one wants to eat leftover French toast. Nor will my culinary conscience won't allow it. So, I baked a hotel pan of bread pudding this morning for the lunchtime dessert.

Overheard in the dining room: Two young boys, both about 10 years old, were going down the self service line, when they came to the bread pudding. "What's that?" asked the first boy. "I don't know," said the second boy, "but if Steve made it, it's gotta be good!"

The boys were right. We only had three servings leftover!

Other leftovers used today: 30 barbecued chicken quarters, meat pulled, left from Tuesday's dinner, mixed with 2 gallons barbecue sauce and 4 sliced onions to create BBQ chicken sandwiches; grilled cheese and luncheon meat sandwiches (leftover bologna, salami and ham from Monday's lunch); and 12 pints of strawberries were used for a special dessert for the Cabin 1 girls (presented to them by the senior boys in Cabin 9).

Bread pudding, made from leftover French toast, is ready for the oven. Bake the pudding in a water bath as you'd any custard. Place both pans in the oven, them pour hot water into the larger pan to about one-inch up the side of the bread pudding pan.

BREAD PUDDING

This recipe yields one 12- by 20- by 4-inch hotel pan. Serve the bread pudding with a #10 scoop. Serves 75.

3 pounds white bread
12 ounces butter, melted
3 dozen eggs
3 cups granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 ounces vanilla extract
3-3/4 quarts milk
Cinnamon, to taste
Nutmeg, to taste

Cube bread and place in full-sized hotel pan. Drizzle butter over bread cubes. Mix together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined. Add milk and mix to combine.

Pour egg mixture over bread cubes. Let stand, refrigerated, 1 hour or longer, so the bread absorbs the eggs mixture. If necessary, push bread down into pan once or twice after mixture has had time to stand.

Sprinkle top with cinnamon and nutmeg. Set pan in larger pan containing about 1-inch of hot water. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven for 1 hour or until set.

Serve warm or cold. Garnish with whipped cream, fruit puree or confectioners sugar.