pecans Archives - For the Love of Food

Pecan and Cranberry Pull Apart Breakfast Bread

Nicole Hood — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Today I am sharing one of my favorite family holiday traditions for the holidays:

Holiday Pull Apart Breakfast Bread!

Last year I teamed up with Pillsbury® to share this special family recipe featuring Grands!® Flaky Biscuits in a cooking video {check it out below}. Today I wanted to share the step by step recipe and photos with y’all. Just in time for Christmas! Let me know what you think and share your favorite holiday tradition in the comments.

Pecan and Cranberry Pull Apart Breakfast Bread

Ingredients

1 pkg Grands Flaky biscuits
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pecans chopped
zest from 1 orange
2 tbsp butter melted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Open biscuits and separate. Cut biscuit dough into 4ths.
Add all ingredients to a large freezer size zip top bag, seal, and shake to combine.
Grease a round baking pan or large pie plate and pour ingredients in, spreading to fill all gaps.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and baked through.
Serve warm, in the baking dish, and pull apart to eat and share!

The key to this recipe is flaky biscuit dough that pulls apart when you bake it.
I like to use Grands!® Flaky Biscuits.

Open biscuits and separate. Cut biscuit dough into 4ths.

Add biscuits to a large freezer size zip top bag.

Add 1 cup of brown sugar. Then you can customize this recipe however you like.
I chose dried cranberries and chopped pecans.
I also love walnuts and dried apples.

Zest one orange and add all the toppings to the bag.

Mix everything together in the bag.

Now pour in a couple tablespoons of melted butter and seal and shake.

Grease a round baking dish or pie plate.

Pour ingredients in, spreading to fill all gaps.

Shake any loose toppings right on top!

Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

It should be golden brown and cooked through.

Serve warm, in the baking dish, and pull apart to eat and share!

The post Pecan and Cranberry Pull Apart Breakfast Bread appeared first on For the Love of Food.

Pecan Praline King Cake Bread Pudding

Nicole Hood — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 17:00:00 +0000

It’s Mardi Gras King Cake week on the blog and I am super excited to share some of my favorite new recipes featuring a Louisiana delicacy: the King Cake.

Mardi Gras {aka Carnival} officially starts on January 6th, which is the day Jesus first showed himself to the three wise men. A King Cake, which is traditionally served during Mardi Gras, is a baked pastry that is decorated in the royal colors of purple which signifies “Justice,” green for “Faith,” and gold for “Power”. A tiny plastic baby, which represents baby Jesus, is hidden in or underneath the cake. When the King Cake is sliced and served each person looks to see if their piece contains the baby. That lucky person is named “King” for a day and they host the next party and provide the King Cake. The end of Mardi Gras is Mardi Gras Day, also known as Fat Tuesday. The date changes every year but is always the day before Ash Wednesday.

My girls love King Cake just like their Mama!
Photos by Lisa Anne Photography

A traditional King Cake tastes like a cinnamon coffee cake to me. It has flaky pastry crust, cinnamon and brown sugar filling, and then topped with a sweet glaze and colored sugar. These days, King Cakes come in a variety of fun flavors like Strawberry Champagne and Bananas Foster. There are even savory King Cakes stuffed with boudin sausage available all over my state.

I have sampled many varieties of King Cakes over the last month and every single one has been different. Honestly, I have liked them all but when I tasted this Pecan Praline King Cake from Harlow’s Donut and Bakery in Pineville, LA, I could have eaten all of it in one sitting. Yep, you heard me, every last bite of that sticky sweet cake would have gone in my belly, but I somehow managed to pull myself away. It was then that I had a light bulb go off: King Cake Bread Pudding. And that friends, is how this delicious foodie creation was born.

I cubed up the cake, filling and all, and tossed it was a few flaky crossiants. Then I made a brown sugar batter and mixed it together. Add chopped, glazed pecans and butter and pop it in the oven to bake to a bubbly golden bread pudding masterpiece. Then it was time to decorate because this is still a King Cake, right? It has to be colorful and over the top! I made a cream cheese glaze, dyed it three different shades of green, yellow, and purple and drizzled it on top. This dessert was a winner!

I decided to take the King Cake Bread Pudding to a Paint Party I was attending that night at Jillybeans Studio and share with the lucky ladies who joined me.

My poor husband sure did miss out. The whole bread pudding was devoured at the party and he didn’t get to try it. Guess that means we have to make another one for Fat Tuesday!

King Cake Bread Pudding and Bacon Wrapped Dates for noshing
on at the Ladies Night Out Paint Party.

Pecan Praline King Cake Bread Pudding

Makes one 9X13 bread pudding

Ingredients

1 large Pecan Praline King Cake cut into 1 inch cubes
3 large croissants cut into 1 inch cubes
6 eggs beaten
1 quart milk
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

For the topping:

8 oz bag Glazed Pecans {or 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans with 1/3 cup brown sugar)
2 tbsp flour
4 tbsp butter diced

For the glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese cubed and softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons milk
1/8 tsp salt
2-3 drops each of purple green, and yellow food coloring

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 9X13 or 2 8X8 baking dishes.
Add cubed king cake and croissants to the buttered dish/es.
In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
Pour over the cubed bread, pressing down. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine the bag of glazed pecans with flour and butter. Mix together, crumbling by hand.
Sprinkle evenly over the top of the bread pudding.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until cooked through and the topping is lightly browned and toasted.
Let cool slightly before adding the glaze.

For the glaze:

Beat cream cheese on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.
Add sugar and beat until combined.
Add salt, lemon juice, and milk; mix on low speed until smooth.
Divide into three bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring into each bowl. You should have one purple, one green, and one yellow.
Using a spoon, drizzle generous lines of all three colored glazes across the top of the bread pudding.
Slice into squares and serve warm or at room temp.

Start by cutting up your King Cake, filling, icing, sugar, everything.

Cut into 1 inch cubes.

The King Cake alone didn’t quite fill my dish so I decided to cube up

three large croissants and mix those in as well.

I just love flaky croissants and they are the perfect

buttery addition to the bread pudding.

Butter your baking dish, either one 9X13 or two 8X8’s.

Add your cubed cake and croissants.

Be sure to toss them together and spread evenly in the dish.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, milk, brown sugar,

salt, and cinnamon.

Pour over the cubed bread, pressing down. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Now time for the topping!

I skipped a step and bought glazed chopped pecans.

You could use plain chopped pecans instead and add 1/3 cup brown

sugar and a pinch of salt.

In a small bowl combine the bag of glazed pecans with flour and butter.

Mix together, crumbling by hand.

Sprinkle evenly over the top of the bread pudding.

Bake for 40-45 minutes at 350 degrees.

It should be cooked through and lightly browned and toasted.

Set aside to cool slightly.

For the glaze: start with cubed softened cream cheese.

Beat cream cheese on medium-high speed with an electric mixer until fluffy.

Add sugar and beat until combined.

Add salt, lemon juice, and milk; mix on low speed until smooth.

Divide into three bowls and add 2-3 drops of food coloring into each bowl.

You should have one purple, one green, and one yellow.

Using a spoon, drizzle generous lines of all three colored glazes across

the top of the bread pudding.

Slice into squares and serve warm or at room temp.

Whether you like King Cake or not, you need to give this

Pecan Praline King Cake Bread Pudding a try.

Even the pickiest of eaters love it!

Happy Mardi Gras friends!
Check back tomorrow for another King Cake review and recipe.

The post Pecan Praline King Cake Bread Pudding appeared first on For the Love of Food.

Creamy Chocolate Pecan Crunch Dessert Bars

Nicole Hood — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 21:03:00 +0000

Looking for a decadent, creamy dessert that will satisfy your sweet tooth?
Look no further, these Chocolate Pecan Crunch Bars are packed with flavor, crunch, and cream cheese deliciousness!

*Adapted from my wonderful friend Lora’s recipe.
What would I do without friend’s like Lora?!

Creamy Chocolate Pecan Crunch Dessert Bars

Makes 12 bars.

Ingredients

8 ounce Philadelphia Cream Cheese softened
1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips
4 tbsp butter softened
1 cup chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a double boiler, melt butterscotch chips and butter until smooth.
Pour into a large bowl and mix in chocolate graham crackers and pecans.
Reserve one cup and pour the remaining crumble in an ungreased 8X8 baking dish.
Press down on the bottom of the dish to make a crust.
Bake for 12 minutes until crust is set.
In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese and sugar.
Cream until smooth.
Add eggs, lemon juice and flour and mix until well combined.
Remove baked crust from oven and spread cream cheese mixture on top.
Sprinkle with reserved one cup of crumble.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until filling is set and top is bubbly.
Let cool and then slice into 12 bars.

Pecans, butterscotch, cream cheese, and chocolate…I can’t even begin to tell you how decadently delicious this dessert is!

Cut into 12 bars and watch them disappear (make sure to save one- or two- for yourself!).

Perfect for upcoming Holiday parties!

The post Creamy Chocolate Pecan Crunch Dessert Bars appeared first on For the Love of Food.