Spiced Plum Bread Food

SPICED PLUM BREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• In a large bowl, blend the egg, honey, sugar, and vanilla. Mix in the flour, baking soda, cloves, and cinnamon. Fold in the plums and walnuts.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, and bake 50 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

SUGARPLUM SPICE BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add 4 cups flour, yeast, cardamom, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Heat milk to 120°-130°; add to creamed mixture and beat until moistened. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a heavily floured surface. Sprinkle with fruit and raisins; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 40 minutes., Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into 8 portions. Shape into loaves. Place in 8 greased 5x3x2-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool., For frosting, in a small bowl, cream butter and shortening. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough milk to reach desired spreading consistency. Frost loaves.

SPICED BREAD PUDDING

Steps:

• Place the cinnamon, nutmeg, dried orange peel, cloves, peppercorns, and ginger into 3 cups of half-and-half in a microwavable container and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Check the temperature of the mixture and microwave in 30 second increments until it reaches 180 degrees F. Cover and steep 15 minutes.
• Place the eggs and yolks in a blender with an 8-cup carafe. Blend on the lowest speed for 30 seconds. Raise the speed to quarter power and slowly add the sugars and blend until thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Add the remaining 2 cups half-and-half. With the machine still running, pour in the spiced half-and-half through a small hand strainer and add the rum. Use immediately, or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.
• Preheat the oven on the lowest (or warm) setting.
• Cut a 7-inch round disk off the top of the boule using a long bread knife or serrated slicer. Tear the disk into pieces and scatter in a large roasting pan. Cut all the way around the inside of the boule just inside the outer wall. Cut downward and across the interior of the bread, first in one direction, then 90 degrees to it to create a grid, the way you would cube mango flesh to remove it from the skin. Remove the plugs of bread and tear into hunks about the size of an egg. Add to the roasting pan and bake until bread is dry, 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Sprinkle the fruit over the bread, pour in the custard, and press the bread to submerge all the pieces. Cover and soak for 2 hours at room temperature or for up to 8 hours in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Pour the melted butter into a spray bottle and spritz the inside of the bread shell. Be sure to cover the bottom with a thin layer to prevent the custard from soaking through. Place the bread shell in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and place in the oven to toast the interior for 30 minutes.
• Remove the bread shell from the oven and transfer the soaked bread mixture into the shell. Bake until the bread pudding souffles and reaches an internal temperature of 165 to 170 degrees F, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Remove and cool 30 minutes before slicing or scooping and serving.

SPICED PURPLE PLUM JAM

Steps:

• Submerge 6 empty half-pint jars on a rack in a large pot of water. Cover and bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat to low to keep jars warm until ready to fill.
• Tumble plums, lemon zest, and lemon juice into a wide, nonreactive 8-quart pot. Whisk together sugar, pectin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a small bowl, then stir into pot until combined.
• Bring to a vigorous boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-high; cook, stirring frequently and adjusting heat as needed to maintain a gentle boil, until volume has reduced by at least one-third, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove pot from heat and check for set.
• Working with one jar at a time, remove empty jars from canning pot. Using a wide-mouth funnel, carefully ladle jam into jars, leaving 1/2 inch for headspace. Use a clean wooden chopstick to work air bubbles out of jars. Check headspace again and add more jam if necessary to bring to 1/2 inch from the top.
• Wipe jar rims, apply lids and bands (not too tightly), and return jars to canning pot; cover pot and return water to a rolling boil. Process 10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove pot lid, and let jars stand in the cooling water 5 minutes to help ensure a good vacuum seal.
• Move jars to a folded kitchen towel or wooden cutting board to cool completely before checking seals. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and eaten promptly. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place. They are shelf-stable at least 1 year.

PLUM SPICE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F Line a 9-inch springform pan with aluminum foil.
• Pit and halve the plums and place them, cut sides up, in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
• In an electric mixer, blend the flour, sugar, and oil on low speed until the flour is evenly moistened. Add the eggs and blend thoroughly.
• In a small bowl, mix together the baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Add the spice mixture to the batter in the mixer and blend well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and the salt and mix again.
• Pour the batter slowly over the plums. Bake the cake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate.
• Serve the Plum Spice Cake warm with softly whipped cream.

RUSSIAN GINGERBREAD COOKIES (PRYANIKI)

Steps:

• Cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, cardamom, and cloves.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in honey and egg. With mixer on low, add flour mixture; mix just until a dough forms. Dough will be soft. Divide dough in half, wrap each half in plastic, and pat into rectangles. Refrigerate until firm, 1 to 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line three rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Working quickly with one rectangle at a time, roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured surface, turning, lifting, and flouring dough (and rolling pin) as needed. Using a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out rounds and transfer to prepared sheets. Brush off excess flour; freeze until firm, 1 hour. Repeat process with remaining dough.
• Top half the rounds with 1 teaspoon each plum jam. Brush edge of dough lightly with water, then top with another dough round and press edges together to seal. Reshape each cookie into a neat circle, if necessary, on sheets, spaced 2 inches apart. Bake until puffed and dry, 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets.
• Glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Dip the top of each cookie in glaze, then transfer to a wire rack until glaze is set, 1 hour. Glazed cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

SUPER MOIST SPICED BANANA NUT BREAD

Steps:

• 1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• 2.In a large bowl, stir together the melted butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla, mix well. Sift then Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and salt, stir into the butter mixture until smooth. Finally, fold in the sour cream, walnuts and bananas. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
• 3.Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool loaf in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.