Gourmet Gifts Made Easy

Clockwise from bottom clear bowl: Aromatic Coffee & Cheese Spread, Favorite Jam Spread, Peanut Butter Lover's Cream Cheese Spread, Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread with maple syrup, Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread without maple syrup.

I promised my customers more Christmas gift ideas. This time instead of wrapping ideas I have some spread recipes perfect for making your gift extra special. You could either mix up one of these delicious spreads to put alongside your gift of bread or simply copy the recipe onto a pretty recipe card to stick in with the loaf.

For months I have been dreaming of flavored cream cheese spreads atop Chocolate Pecan Bread. With the onset of winter, thus no farmers' markets filling every minute of my life, I was able to do some recipe research online. The spreads you see in the pictures are the result. After much taste testing my family and I have come up with some favorite bread/spread combinations. See each recipe for our comments.

Peanut Butter Lover's Cream Cheese Spread

The blue ribbon winner! This can be eaten on any bread, but nothing could beat a generous slab of Chocolate Pecan Bread smothered with this spread.

1 c. peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

Using an electric mixer beat until smooth.

I found this to make a very clumpy, dry mass. It may have been this way because I was using our favorite natural peanut butter (only ground peanuts and salt). Whatever the cause, these are the additions I made to get a desirable smooth texture plus a sweeter flavor since our peanut butter has no added sugar:

2 T. + 2 tsp. powdered sugar

4 oz. (1/2 c.) butter

Aromatic Coffee & Cheese Spread

Ahhh! The rich and comforting flavors of coffee and chocolate. Definitaly a spread for Chocolate Pecan Bread. Even Mom and Maren who are not coffee drinkers didn't mind a bit of this one.

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. instant coffee granules (or up to 1 tsp. for more flavor; may need to add more hot water)

1/2 tsp. hot water

In a small bowl beat cream cheese and sugar. Dilute coffee granules in hot water. Add coffee to cream cheese mixture until it is light and fluffy.

Favorite Jam Spread
This one got mixed reviews. The general consensous, though, was that it needed more jam flavor, especially if served on Chocolate Pecan Bread. I personally enjoyed the spread on French Batard, one of my signiture artisan breads.

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. butter, softened

4-6 T. jam, any kind (I ended up using much more homemade cherry jam for more flavor. It still wasn't as cherry flavored as I would have liked, so I would try adding even more and eliminating all or part of the butter to keep it from getting too soft.)

Cream together the cream cheese and butter (if using) until well mixed. Add jam to your taste. Do not overmix or it will separate.

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread

I originally made this one to try on Pumpkin Pecan Bread. While very good I still prefer this bread with just a little butter. A la French Batard this taste bud pleasing spread made a very yummy treat! Maren gave the spread with maple syrup the highest rating, while Hannah voted for no syrup. What's your vote?

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 T. brown sugar

2 T. pure maple syrup (optional for a sweeter spread)

1/4 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and syrup (if using) until creamy. Add pumpkin, spices, and vanilla and beat until smooth. Refrigerate for at least an hour. (It will be softer if using maple syrup.)

Christmas is coming...

"Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat..." Soon that song will be playing over our speakers as Christmas preparations begin. Decorating, cookie making, buying and wrapping presents... For some, these things have already begun. In fact yesterday I got my first Christmas present order for the year. Twenty loaves made up of a mixture of some of my more special breads will soon be in production - Chocolate Pecan, Julekkake, Pumpkin Pecan... Visiting with the woman ordering, I learned that these loaves, wrapped in festive cellophane, are going to be teacher gifts.

Her call got me thinking. What are some creative ways to wrap bread? Keep reading to see some of my ideas.

Ribbon makes a simple yet elegant wrapping. Even a novice bow tier can make a stunning bow or simple knot with wired ribbon.

Ribbon being put to use again. Here it ties together a bamboo tray and loaf of bread. Ready to serve!

Want to add a little, inexpensive gift? Buy or make a tree ornament and tie it on with curling ribbon. So easy, yet see how special that looks!

Towel: Mom, being a lover of textiles, dreamed up this gift wrap. Here I used some antique lace to secure the towel around a loaf of Chocolate Pecan Bread.

Take gift bags to the next level with a fun cloth bag. No fancy wrapping required!

The Cook, the Baker and the Tray Maker?

A few weeks ago I received some calls from a sweet, elderly lady in our community. 'Could you please bake three Pumpkin Pecan Bread loaves, slice them, and butter 36 pieces for November 17th? And what could I add to it to make a nice afternoon lunch for the weekly senior citizens' get together? Crackers and cheese? Okay.' So this baker, turned consultant/caterer, got busy.

The 17th came and I began slicing and buttering. Then came the challenge. How can I make this bread ready to serve without using one of our own dishes?

Digging out the cardboard-scraps box from my family's treasure closet filled with games, miscellane-ous craft items (most of them as cheap as this cardboard), and other odds and ends, I knew I had my answer. Mixed with a little freezer paper and tape, this cardboard would make the perfect disposable tray.

36 slices of bread ready to go! These maybe don't make the most elegant serving trays, but they definitely work well in a pinch!

Whew! I made it through my first job as baker/consultant/caterer/tray maker.

Autumn French Fare

Today's noon menu: Pumpkin Pecan Bread French Toast

Last fall when Pumpkin Pecan Bread was brand new, two of my faithful customers came up with this food idea independantly. Great minds think alike!

This noon my family finally tried it out for ourselves. My customers were not kidding. It was a spectacular meal. My favorite was drizzling the toast with pure maple syrup, but our home made syrup was tasty on it, too.

Here is the Stowman's staple syrup recipe. My dad would prepare this as a mix in his younger adventuresome days when he went canoeing in the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota .

Stowman's Table Syrup

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. light brown sugar
1 c. water
1/2 tsp. maple flavoring

Mix all together in a medium size sauce pan. Place on high heat and bring to a boil. Boil one or two minutes.

Serve warm over French toast, pancakes, waffles, or corn bread. Save the left overs in the refrigerator to be used cold at another meal.

From the Test Kitchen: Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding

On occasion my parents go away to a meeting or on a short vacation leaving my sisters and me to hold down the fort. We girls relish these times to make dishes our parents aren't fond of, try out new ones clipped from magazines, and even come up with creations of our own. Sometimes these recipes are filed away in the trash can, but usually we find another good and fun food to add to our repertoire. The latter is what happened to my own version of bread pudding.

Looking in the freezer on one of these parentless days, I found an overabundance of chocolate bread. Experimenting to create the perfect bread made for a yummy finalized product and a freezer full of rejects. What was to be done with it all? Then the idea dawned on my. Why not make bread pudding? Knowing that Mom uses our well loved "old Rothsay cook book" when making this old fashioned dessert, I flipped through its pages until I found the yellow edged page with a well marked bread pudding recipe at the bottom. This must be it!

When Mom makes bread pudding she uses all the left over ends of bread collected in the freezer over time. Slices that have been out too long to be very tasty, left over hot dog buns from grilling at the lake, and unused bread samples from the farmer's market make their way into the freezer to be pulled out for home made salad croutons and an occasional casserole full of not too mushy, slightly sweet bread pudding. The recipe has been much altered to make a lighter dessert, one that we can go away from feeling as if we've had a good dessert but not pay for it later. A satisfying dessert all around.

For my chocolate version of bread pudding, I realized a few alterations would have to be made to the already tweaked recipe. Raisins and cinnamon had to go. This is what resulted.

Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding - Skinny Version
8 c. Chocolate Pecan Bread, cut in small cubes
2-1/4 c. milk, scalded (more if you like a wetter pudding)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3 c. sugar
Spread the bread cubes in a large, flat casserole or in a 9"x13" pan. Pour scalded milk over the bread and cool. Pour eggs over the bread and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes until the bread becomes pudding-like at the bottom (use a knife to probe into the center and check it out). Viole - a successful dessert!

Realizing that not everyone goes for skinny desserts, I experimented with the original recipe to make a deluxe bread pudding. This will not last long on your table!

Chocolate Pecan Bread Pudding - All the Way
4 c. Chocolate Pecan Bread, cut in small cubes
2 c. milk, scalded
1/4 c. butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. sugar
Spread the bread cubes in a 9"x9" baking pan. Pour scalded milk over the bread and cool. Pour butter and eggs over the bread (Do not mix these two together! The warm butter will cook the egg.) and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees until the bread becomes pudding like (I baked mine 1hr. - for a wetter pudding bake less).

The traditional way for our family to eat bread pudding is with milk poured over the top, but I have been dreaming of other toppings. These are some of the ideas that have been floating around in my mind: A scoop of soft ice cream melting over the top, a dollop of whipped cream, a drizzling of caramel, fresh raspberries. Hmmm - I should open a bread pudding shop!

Chocolate Pecan Bread

- Chocolate Pecan Bread -
Yes, this is a yeast bread, and it's the latest from the "test kitchen." After trying five recipes I ditched them all to create my own chocolate bread. Starting with my whole wheat French bread I added Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips, toasted pecans, cocoa, and a hint of sugar. The result - the perfect bread for all chocolate lovers. Although it's not much to look at (no, it's not burnt) Chocolate Pecan Bread delights the mouth with it's moist, slightly chewy crumb, nutty pecan pieces, and bursts of complex bittersweet chocolate flavor. How is it eaten? My family and I have only begun to explore the possibilities, but the current favorites are just as is, slightly warmed to make little pools of chocolate, and the latest, generously spread with peanut butter. I'm dreaming of eating it alongside a bowl of fresh from the garden raspberries or spread with a fruit flavored butter (strawberry?), cream cheese, or cherry jam. Whatever way it's eaten, it is great with a special meal, as a dessert, with tea, or just as a snack.

The most exciting thing is that it's not just my family that has been enjoying it. After making six experimental loaves in one day alone, we decided it was time to start giving loaves away. I haven't gotten any complaints yet. Yay for a success! Now if only my current experiments would turn out as well...