Last week I made the most amazing Orange Buttermilk Pancakes. Instead of making a single-serving portion, which is my normal MO, I made a full-size batch so that I would have some leftover. I let the leftover pancakes cool, then packaged them in freezer bags and froze them. I knew I would be having friends for dinner this weekend, and I wanted to serve them something special for dessert. Thus this delicious take on an old-fashioned recipe was born.
This morning, I took the frozen pancakes out of their freezer bags and placed them on a wire rack to thaw, and left them there all day to dry out. (Alternately, you can put thawed pancakes in a 250 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until they dry out.)
Tear the dried-out pancakes into 1-inch pieces. I had about 3 cups of pancake, so this recipe is based on that quantity. You may need to add more or less milk or egg to your custard mix if you have more pancake than I did.
Heat milk and butter until milk is warm (not hot) and butter is melted.
In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Slowly drizzle warm milk into egg mixture, whisking quickly. (Be sure milk isn’t too hot or egg will scramble.)
Add the pancake pieces and chocolate pieces into the bowl and fold gently until all pieces are coated with custard mix. Be careful not to break the pancake pieces – they’re fragile.
Pour into buttered baking dish. Choose a dish large enough that the bread pudding layer is 1-2 inches high. This will ensure there is a good balance of crispiness from the outside and gooiness from the inside.
Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes until custard in center is set.
While pudding is baking, start making sauce by heating orange juice, sugar, and corn starch in a small sauce pan.
Simmer until reduced by almost half. Sauce should be syrup-y. Place reduced orange syrup into another bowl and place in fridge to cool.
When pudding is done, remove from oven and place on cooling rack to set. While pudding is setting, whip the heavy whipping cream. Stir the whipped cream into the orange syrup until completely combined.
This dessert is very rich, so I serve fairly small portions. Place about 1/4 to 1/2 cup pudding into a decorative glass. (I rarely drink, but I have a large collection of pretty stemware to serve desserts like this.) Drizzle with orange cream sauce. Serve remaining orange cream sauce in a bowl with dessert – you’ll want more of this delicious topping, I promise.
Here’s the complete recipe. Enjoy!
Ingredients for Bread Pudding
1 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Small handful of chocolate, cut into small pieces
3 cups orange buttermilk pancake pieces
Ingredients for Orange Cream Sauce
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
1) Dry out pancakes by either leaving them on a drying rack for a day, or placing in a 250 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.
2) When pancakes are dry, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
3) Tear dried-out pancakes into 1 inch chunks.
4) Warm milk and butter in small pan until butter melts. (Make sure milk is only warm, not hot.)
5) Whisk eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl.
6) Whisk in warm milk mixture.
7) Place pancake and chocolate pieces into milk/egg mixture and gently stir until pancakes are covered.
8) Pour into buttered baking dish. Dish should be small enough so pudding mixture is 1-2 inches deep.
9) Bake for 30-45 minutes until center of pudding is set. While pudding is baking, make sauce.
10) When pudding is done, remove from oven and place on trivet to set.
To make sauce
1) While pudding is baking, heat orange juice, sugar, and corn starch in small sauce pan. Simmer until reduced by half and syrup-y.
2) Transfer orange syrup to a bowl and place in fridge to cool.
3) When pudding is done, whip the whipping cream.
4) Stir whipping cream into orange sauce and stir until blended.
5) Drizzle over individual servings of bread putting, and serve extra sauce on the side.
