TWD - Oatmeal Breakfast Bread (muffins!)

Hi all! I missed the first two recipes this month,(busy working)  but I am here with the third recipe for August.  That recipe, Oatmeal Breakfast Bread, was picked by Natalie of Oven Love. She has lots of yummy recipes posted and great photos to go along with them. Be sure to stop by and check them out.

I have family visiting right now. My Mom, Dad and younger brother are here from Florida. They will be staying till Wednesday morning. Last night we had a house full with the three of them, me and my hubby,  and my two kids came out with their spouses. We had spaghetti, fresh baked bread, and for dessert, chocolate bread pudding (from Dorie's cookbook!) There was a lot of talking and laughing. Tons of pictures taken. Great time!

This morning I decided to bake the Oatmeal Breakfast Bread to have with our coffee. Only I decided to bake muffins instead of a loaf of bread. I thought the muffins would be easier for everyone to grab and eat and that muffins would be ready much quicker than bread.

This was a quick recipe to put together. Mix up the topping using brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. The batter was easy to mix up. Flour, sugar, eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves,salt, baking powder, baking soda, oil, applesauce. I folded in some raisins that I plumped with some boiling water. Then lined two muffin tins with baking papers and using my large scoop, I filled each of the muffin papers about 3/4 full and popped them into the oven.

I set the timer for about 25 minutes and when I checked them, they were done. I pulled them from the oven and set them out to cool. My brother was chomping at the bit to try them. He said they smelled delicious, which was true. My Dad said he wasn't interested in them, because he doesn't like oatmeal baked...he likes oatmeal in a bowl with milk and brown sugar, but doesn't like oatmeal cookies or oatmeal bread. Kind of like me with bananas. I love bananas fresh but can't take them baked in anything. Mom was neutral, though she did say the muffins smelled good while they were baking.

Once I had photographed the muffins for my blog, I tried one and my brother tried one. Delicious!! Dorie says to wait for the bread to cool before eating it, but the muffins were wonderful warm from the oven. Soft with a tender crumb, and the light taste of cinnamon. The topping was crunchy and sweet. The raisins nice and chewy. I ate two and my brother ate 4!! He was going to eat more, but decided he was going to show a little self-control. :) Mom tried one and talked Dad into trying one. And, he liked them! He was going to have a second one, but thought I had counted them and didn't want to eat muffins that were set aside for someone else. Oh well, he can have more tomorrow morning!

So, thanks Natalie. Great choice! It was a big hit here at my place. If you want to see what the rest of the bakers thought stop by TWD and check it out.

Sweet Melissa Sunday - Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce

This week's recipe, Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce was chosen by Candace of Candy Girl. This was one that I was very happy to try.

I love bread pudding. I have never passed up a chance to order it when I see it on a  menu, or try it at a party. However, I have never made it myself. My hubby doesn't care for it (he doesn't think bread and dessert belong in the same sentence) and I could never justify making it just for myself. Until now. :)

Though the recipe sounded fabulous just like it was, I made some changes. First of all, earlier this week I baked some Pumpkin Pie Brioche. The recipe is posted on a friend's blog. When I made the brioche I didn't realize I needed brioche for this recipe. When I read this recipe and saw brioche listed in the ingredients, I decided to make my bread pudding with that Pumpkin Pie Brioche.

Using Pumpkin Pie brioche steered me to another change. Instead of using almonds, I decided pecans would be better with the flavor of the brioche. I also decided to cut the recipe in half. Figured I didn't need to eat the full recipe all by myself. :) My hubby may decide to try it, but odds are he won't care for it and I will have to eat it all. Oh the sacrifices we bakers must make.

I love how simple this was to put together. I may be in trouble now. I always thought bread pudding was difficult to make, but this was pretty easy. I made one more small change...I added some granulated brown sugar to the top rather than use white sugar. I thought the brown sugar and pecans would work better with the Pumpkin Pie brioche.

It smelled wonderful while baking. The pecans toasted up beautifully and the brown sugar added a nice color to the bread cubes on top.

I did not have any raspberries in the house, but I did have some seedless raspberry jam and I melted a little of that and drizzled it over the finished pudding.

The verdict? Fabulous! I loved the flavor of the pumpkin and the raspberry. The crunch of the pecans and bread cubes on top contrasted with the creamy, almost pudding like consistancy of the bread pudding. This is definitely what comes to mind when you think "comfort food".  I am hoping the hubby hates this so I can have all of it for myself!

Please go to SMS to see what the other members thought. I will be making this recipe again and will try it the way it is in the book next time. Thanks Candace! Loved this one!