Pineapple Coconut Bread Pudding

Some weekends call for dessert as breakfast. Feel free to give this one a try! The trickiest part of the recipe was making the caramel sauce from scratch. I've master many a batch of caramel and the process still keeps me on my toes a little bit. If you're too wary, a jar of the ice cream topping will do just as well. No one needs that high a level of anxiety first thing in the morning after all. The rest of the dish comes together in a pinch, though a decent chunk of time is needed to bake the pudding. This may not be the recipe for a house hold full of early risers...maybe brunch would be more appropriate. And really, who doesn't enjoy brunch.

The original recipe called for a fair amount of sugar in ADDITION to the caramel sauce. Really, between the sweet bread, the sauce and the sweet fruity flavors, this bread pudding really does not need the extra sweetness. However...adding in that extra coconut and sprinkle of nuts on top give the dish a wonderful boost.

pudding adapted from What's Cooking, Love?
sauce adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

serves 8

The Ingredients
for the caramel sauce:
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tbsp butter, cut into 4-6 pieces
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp salt

for the pudding
1 lb day old Portuguese Sweet Bread (such as King's Hawaiian)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 - 14 oz can coconut milk
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, with juice
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts, toasted (optional)

The Process:
for the sauce
Place a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sugar and heat, stir occasionally using a rubber spatula. The sugar will begin to clump and melt. Once the all of the sugar melts and forms a thick amber-colored syrup, add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring until completely. Be careful...it will sputter.

Once the butter has been combined, slowly drizzle in the cream, again being careful of sputtering.  Allow to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Transfer to a heat proof dish and allow to cool.

for the pudding:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the bread into 1-inch cubes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, and vanilla. Add the cubed bread and toss to coat. Set aside for 5-10 minutes to allow the bread to soak up the egg mixture.

Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch baking dish. Layer half of the bread mixture into the bottom of the dish. Drizzle with half of the caramel sauce and layer the flaked coconut on top. Top with the remaining bread mixture. Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce and sprinkle the pudding with toasted macadamia nuts (if desired).

Bake, uncovered for 35-40 minutes, or until the pudding is set and slightly puffed. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Top with additional caramel sauce if desired.

Pineapple Rum Upside Down Cake

I've made a glorious pineapple upside down cake before.  I've also tried a wonderful spin called the banana foster's upside down cake.  But never have I tried a cake containing so much butter or so much rum.  What better way to round out our tropical adventure this month than by saying Aloha with this boozy treat.


The Ingredients:
for the sauce
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large can pineapple rings (about 10)
1/4 cup Meyer's dark Jamaican rum
1/2 cup heavy cream

for the cake
2 cup sifted flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temp
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs
2 tsp Meyer's dark Jamaican rum

for the glaze:
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp water
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Meyer's dark Jamaican rum

The Process:

Combine butter and brown sugar in a large skillet and heat until bubbly. Add pineapple and caramelize to a deep golden brown, turning once. Remove and set aside. Pour rum and cream into the skillet and cook over low heat 5 minutes, until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat.

Butter a 10-inch round cake pan (a cheesecake pan with removable sides works well) and line with parchment paper. Set on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any leaks. Arrange pineapple rings to cover bottom of pan. Blot cherries with a paper towel and place them in the center of the pineapple rings. Pour rum and cream sauce over pineapple and set pan aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, sift together flour and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add sugar gradually and continue beating for five minutes, or until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add rum. Fold in the dry ingredients, mixing just until the batter is smooth and blended.

Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake at 325 degrees. between 1 hour and 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Prepare the glaze shortly before the cake is done so it will be warm.

Remove cake from oven when done and poke several holes in the cake with a small wooden skewer. Carefully pour this mixture over the warm cake, allowing it to seep into the holes and drizzle remaining over the top. Let it soak in for a few minutes.

Invert onto a serving platter.

Allow to cool completely before serving

The Review:
This cake was dense and wonderfully moist.  The sides and and edges caramelized into a beautiful crunch, but the center was disappointing soggy.  Granted, there is a lot of rum and fruit weighting the cake down.  I'm curious to try the cake again in an iron skillet to see if I'd have better luck  The sauce poured over the pineapple at the begin just didn't seem to get hot and bubbly enough in the spring form pan to create the decedent caramel I was envisioning. 

While fresh the cake had a dense wonderful texture, but again succumbed to the soggy weight of fruit and sauce.  A frustration with my crappy hand mixer may be the culprit.  With a mixer that jams at the slightest provocation I couldn't beat the sugar and butter as creamy as this cake desires.  Reading through a few reviews, it does sounds as though sifted cake flour, instead of all purpose flour, makes a noticeable improvement.

Pineapple Coconut Muffins

The nostalgia of two years spent in Hawaii hangs thick upon our home as of late. I've been pining for sunny, non-scorching days and cool ocean breezes for several weeks. Pineapples beckon and tease from the produce aisle. I finally succumbed. The fruit has been taunting me from the kitchen counter ever since.

Tonight in a mood to bake, I dug up a coconut pineapple quick bread recipe. Several actually. Annalise's muffin recipe at And Now for Something Completely Delicious won out for two reason. One, she used fresh pineapple. Two, she added rum.

If you like pina coladas...

adapted from Annalise's recipe (for the original check here...my recipe is below)

makes 12 muffins

The Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp unsweetened, flaked coconut
3 egg whites
2/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp rum
1 1/4 cup fresh pineapple, finely diced almost to the point of mincing

The Process:
Preheat the oven to 375 and line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Spread the coconut in a thin layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, 6 Tbsp sugar salt and cooled coconut. In a large bowl whisk together sour cream, egg whites, melted butter, and rum. Fold in the pineapple. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the sour cream mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

Fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way full. Combine the remaining 2 Tbsp of brown sugar and 2 Tbsp of coconut. Sprinkle about 1 tsp of the brown sugar mixture over the muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm.

The Review:
These were delectable served slightly warm and with a generous spread of honey butter made by a friend. Though in all honesty the muffins were so moist and flavorful, they hardly needed any accompaniment. I'm glad I doubled the coconut from Annalise's original recipe, as well as toasting it before hand. With the sweetness of the fresh pineapple, the coconut may have been otherwise lost.

A sprinkling of chopped macadamia nuts would have pushed these muffins to en even higher level of tropical ecstasy.

With the cool evening breeze wafting through the kitchen windows and the pineapple smell still lingering, I could almost imagine I was back in Honolulu. Almost....