Cheddar Soda Bread

March 16, 2011

Remember the Baked Potato Soup from the other day?  Well, this is the bread that must go with it.

Yes, it’s more cheese.  More white cheddar and more extra sharp cheddar.  But, I tell you what, this bread goes hand-in-hand with that soup.  It’s great for soaking up the last bits of the soup.  Or, as I discovered, it’s also fantastic after some light re-heating in the microwave and a pat of butter on top.  Since Saint Patrick’s Day is tomorrow, I thought I would jump on the blogging bandwagon and serve you up some of my own.

Best of all, this bread passed the “Elliott” test.  For those of you who read the blog, you may know that Elliott is my sweet 3-year-old nephew.

What you may not know is that he happens to be going through a very (very) picky eating phase-mostly consisting of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and banana yogurt.  My sister and my brother-in-law recently took a trip to Florida, so I was able to help out with the boys for about 5 days.  Elliott helped me make this bread, and he loved watching me grate the cheese.  (warm fuzzy memories).  Anyways, he patiently watched it bake in the oven, telling me how good it smelled.  When it had cooled a bit after it was done baking, I put a little bit of butter on top and gave him a semi-large piece (hesitantly) to see if he would try it.  He did.  He ate the whole entire piece.  So, if this bread can pass the Elliott test, I am pretty sure it’s a good recipe to have on hand!

Cheddar Soda Bread

Servings: about 12

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoon slices

1 cup white cheddar cheese, grated

1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk

1 large egg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Grease an 8″ round pan lightly, and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

4. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, add the butter to the dry ingredients and blend together until the mixture resembles large crumbs.

5. Add the grated cheeses to the mixture and toss to combine.

6. Using a large wooden spoon or spatula, add the buttermilk and egg to the dry ingredients, and stir until the batter is just combined.  **Make sure there aren’t any dry pockets.

7.  Pour the batter into your prepared pan, and, using wet fingertips, spread the dough evenly to completely cover the pan.

8. Bake the bread for 40-45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

9.  Let the bread cool for about 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges to loosen the bread.

10.  Invert the bread onto a wire rack and let cool for about 20 minutes before handling.

Source: Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Filed in:Breads/Muffins/Etc. | Cheese
comment
March 16, 2011 - 6:31 am

Lauren at Keep It Sweet - Wow, this cheddar filled bread looks amazing.

March 16, 2011 - 8:51 am

Blog is the New Black - Love the addition of cheddar!

March 16, 2011 - 6:46 pm

Happy When Not Hungry - This bread looks fantastic! Love the cheddar addition too. Your nephew is too cute!

March 16, 2011 - 10:32 pm

Tracey - This looks phenomenal! Wish I had time to make it for tomorrow’s corned beef dinner.

March 17, 2011 - 9:23 pm

Tam - Just made this gorgeous bread and cannot WAIT for the Hubs to get home for dinner. Thanks for the awesome recipe! P.S. Your nephew is totally adorable & reminds me of my picky-sometimes eater nephew, too. 🙂

March 17, 2011 - 9:46 pm

srlacy - Thanks, Tam! I hope you like it. 🙂

March 18, 2011 - 2:57 pm

Sara - Looks INCREDIBLE! May have to add this to our short list of “definites” that Elliott will eat. 🙂 Thanks for lovin’ my boy and being such a wonderful auntie! 😉

March 31, 2011 - 10:59 am

donna - I made this bread last night and your nephew is right, the smell was amazing along with the taste. Although, it had a “cornbread-type” taste, it was delicious. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

Baked Potato Soup

March 14, 2011

 

I have finally found “the” potato soup recipe.  It’s this one.

You know those thick and creamy, filling potato soups that taste like a loaded baked potato?  Yeah. Those.  I could never ever find a recipe that even came close to those-the ones I have tried in the past were always too runny or lacking in flavor.  And then I decided to try this one via my friend, Annie. JACKPOT!

It was a cold and dreary day, and the people of Indianapolis were thinking that there might be a possibility of yet another round of snow (even though the day before we had beautiful blue skies, sunshine, and thoughts of flip flops…go figure.  Welcome to Indiana weather.)  Anyways, I was craving a soup like this for days..savory and satisfying with green onions and cheese on top.  And, no.  Those are not bacon bits on top.  They are baked potato skins!!!  They added a little bit of crunch and were a great way to use leftover potato skins…I added a little sea salt and pepper to them, and I ended up eating several right off of the baking sheet. Since I like my potato soups to be a little chunky, I only “smashed” about half of the baked potatoes, and I ended up chopping the remainder into 1/2-inch pieces.  I found that the skins came off quite easily after I baked them, and they were fully cooled (there were only a few casualties consisting of smashed potato bits all over my fingers and a few curse words on my end when the skins didn’t peel off so well).

Enjoy this recipe.  It’s a keeper.

Baked Potato Soup

Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

For the soup:

5 russet potatoes, scrubbed well and dried

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided into two 1/4-cup portions

6 cups whole milk

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

3/4 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

For the potato skins:

Reserved potato skins (from above)

Canola oil, for brushing

Sea salt and pepper

For topping: Additional cheese (I used an extra sharp cheddar), sour cream, green onion

 

Instructions

1. For the soup: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Poke tiny holes in each potato multiple times with a fork, and place the potatoes on a baking sheet.

3. Bake the potatoes until fully cooked and softened, about 1 hour.

4. Once fully cooked, remove the potatoes from the oven and let cool completely (about 1 hour or so).

5. Once cooled, slice each potato into two pieces and carefully peel back the skins, removing the skins intact as best as possible. (If you plan on using them for the crunchy potato skins, this is helpful.  If you don’t plan on using them, just discard the skins.)

6. Place half of the potato “insides” in a separate large bowl.  Using a potato masher or large wooden spoon, mash the potato into small pieces.

7. Slice the remaining potato halves into 1/2-inch (or bitesize) pieces.

8. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter.

9. Add 1/4 cup of the flour to the melted butter, whisking constantly until lightly golden brown, about 2 minutes.

10.  Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan well.

11. Add the remaining flour and whisk to combine.  Cook the mixture until thickened, about 8 minutes.

12. Add the potato bits and pieces and stir well.

13.  Add the salt, pepper, and white cheddar, stirring well until the cheese is fully melted and incorporated.

14.  Remove the pan from the heat, and add the green onions and sour cream.  Serve immediately.

15. For the potato skins: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

16. Place the reserved, intact potato skins (or, if you are like me, irregular jagged bits of potato skins……) onto a baking sheet.

17. Using a silicone brush, lightly brush each skin with a little canola oil.

18. Sprinkle the pieces with salt and pepper (or other seasonings, if desired).

19. Bake for 15 minutes or so, or until potato skins are crispy. ***I would advise checking them quite often since oven temperatures may vary.

Source: Barely adapted from Annie’s Eats, originally from For the Love of Cooking.

 

Filed in:Entrees | Soups
comment
March 14, 2011 - 10:39 am

notyet100 - umm yummy

March 14, 2011 - 6:09 pm

Happy When Not Hungry - This soup looks so creamy and delicious! It’s hard to find a good potato soup, so I’m def going to have to try this one. Thanks!

March 14, 2011 - 6:11 pm

Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking - There’s nothing better to warm up to in the cold months than a hot bowl of baked potato soup! This looks so lovely, Shanon. Great recipe! Thanks for sharing.

March 16, 2011 - 6:01 am

The Curvy Carrot » Cheddar Soda Bread - […] the Baked Potato Soup from the other day?  Well, this is the bread that must go with […]

March 18, 2011 - 10:30 pm

Annie - So glad you enjoyed this! I can’t wait for my reflux to disappear so I can enjoy soup again.

March 30, 2011 - 8:04 pm

Mary Beth - There is a restaurant here in Columbia, SC that serves a soup just like this- it is delicious! I still remember going there as a child and my little brother ordering the Potato Soup… then he sobbed buckets when it came. “Why isn’t it RED?” he said… he wanted Tomato soup, poor baby! But we all discovered our love for Potato Soup then! 🙂

April 3, 2011 - 7:45 pm

Jessica - This is delicious! I just made it this evening, and wow! I will admit, it tastes a bit more like chowder than the potato soup I’m used to, but it is still nonetheless delicious!

April 14, 2011 - 9:48 pm

Claire - This was delicious! Because I was short on time, I microwaved the potatoes (skins came off very easily). Thanks!

June 22, 2011 - 5:26 pm

Food, Food, Food (3 things about food) « The Paper Package Blog - […] If anyone else is tempted to try, you can find the recipe here at The Curly Carrot. […]

October 1, 2011 - 8:08 pm

Jody - Made this today. Was very yummy! I decided at the last minute not to do the skins. I had never attempted soup before. Thanks for sharing the recipe!

November 1, 2011 - 6:05 pm

Dawn - So excited to try this tonight for dinner for hubbs and me! I’m going to skip the 2 hour baking/cooling time of the potatoes by zapping them in the microwave, a trick my dad taught me growing up. Thank you for this recipe! Your pics are so gorgeous, by the way 🙂

January 16, 2012 - 7:42 pm

ashley - Words cannot describe how good this is!!! Added bacon crumbled…its a keeper!!!!

July 2, 2012 - 10:33 am

Desiree - Hi there!
I just want to thank you for sharing this awesome recipe. I am featuring your dish on my blog today. Thank you again!!

November 1, 2012 - 1:56 pm

Julie - Most awesome potato soup EVER!!! I think baking the potatoes really makes the flavor pop…I can’t wait to try some more of your recipes! One of my coworkers demanded the recipe after he tasted it 🙂

December 31, 2012 - 12:30 am

Linda - Great recipe! My son wanted carrots and bacon, so we added along with corn making more of a chowder, delicious! He just said it was the best Potato Soup EVER! Thank you!

July 13, 2013 - 5:56 pm

Menu: After Dinner Party - […] lunch – potato soup dinner – […]

July 18, 2014 - 5:56 pm

Gina O'Mara - I make this soup often. I love it! Small differences I’ve added: mixing the cooked bacon in with the flour and butter, I use heavy cream and milk combined, and I don’t mash half the potatoes. I’ve also now made it with gluten free flour!! It’s just as good!

Irish Cream Bread Pudding

March 12, 2011

 

I cannot believe that it’s almost mid-March already.  Where did the time go?  It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the holidays.  Now (hopefully) the weather is turning a little nicer, and, just the other day, I saw the first signs of daffodils coming up.  Every year this sends little waves of happiness through me.  I love spring.

The other day I posted about adding more liqueurs to my cooking.  Well, today, I am proving it.  I came across this recipe and decided that it was worth a shot.  First, I have never made a bread pudding before.  I have never found them to be appealing (my first mistake).  I have a big texture aversion in some foods, and bread soaked in an egg sauce did not seem all that appealing to me.  But, with St. Patrick’s Day coming up, and some of that Bailey’s Irish Cream in my refrigerator, I thought I could give it a try.  Calorie-laden?  Yes. Containing both white and dark chocolates?  Yes.  My little brother was coming into town to visit, and I figured that if I didn’t like it, he would be sure to happily eat any leftovers.

Now, while I still have a slight aversion to bread pudding textures, this is one of the best desserts I have ever made.  Served warm, with that amazing sauce drizzled on top, this recipe was one of the most rich and, oddly enough, light-tasting desserts I have ever had.  The texture is what made it seem lighter, I suppose. It wasn’t too boozy, but the hint of Bailey’s was still respectable. The only bad thing about the dessert is the lack of instant gratification-you need some time to prepare and cool the sauce, as well as some additional time to let the bread pudding “soak”.  In the end, Ben didn’t have to eat all the leftovers….because I did.

 

Irish Cream Bread Pudding

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the Irish Cream sauce:

2 cups heavy whipping cream

6 tablespoons Bailey’s Irish Cream (or whatever similar brand you have on hand)

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons water

For the bread pudding:

14 cups of 3/4-inch cubed French bread

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

6 ounces white chocolate chips

4 large eggs

1/2 cup plus 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup whole milk

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

Instructions

1. For the sauce: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the whipping cream, liqueur, sugar, and vanilla to a boil, stirring frequently.

2.  In a smaller, separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and water until combined.

3. Add the cornstarch/water mixture to the cream,, stirring well.

4.  Boil the mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened (about 3 minutes).

5. Remove mixture from the heat, cool, and transfer to a lidded container and chill until cold (about 2 hours).

6. For the bread pudding: In a large bowl, combine the bread cubes and white and dark chocolate chips.

7. In a separate bowl (or the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the eggs, 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar, and vanilla.

8. Gradually add in the 1 and 1/2 cups of whipping cream and the whole milk.

9. Once well combined, add the mixture to the bread/chips, and stir to combine.  Set aside, and let the mixture sit for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

11. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

12.  Transfer the soaked bread pudding evenly to the dish.

13.  Drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of whipping cream over the bread pudding mixture.

14. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.

15.  Bake the bread pudding for 1 hour, or until the central portion of the pudding is set.

16.  Cool slightly, drizzle with the sauce, and serve warm.

 

Source:  Barely adapted from Bon Appétit, November 2003 via Epicurious.

 

Filed in:Breads/Muffins/Etc. | Desserts
comment
March 12, 2011 - 9:37 am

Stacey Rider - This looks amazing. I have a friend who LOVES Irish Cream and I will have to make it for her. Thanks for sharing – good job!!!

March 13, 2011 - 9:27 am

Lori - Thanks so much for posting. This looks like the perfect dessert for this upcoming week. Yummy.

March 13, 2011 - 9:45 pm

vivian - I made this tonight for dessert for myself and my two daughters. I have never made or eaten bread pudding before because I thought I wouldn’t like it. I was wrong! This is absolutely delicious. I particularly liked the crispy top part. Thanks so much for a wonderful – and simple to make – recipe.

March 14, 2011 - 3:21 pm

Mary @ Delightful Bitefuls - Oh!My!

I’m drooling. I need to make this. Stat.

Mary
Delightful Bitefuls

March 14, 2011 - 10:39 pm

Beauty & the Feast - Bread pudding is one of my all time favs…and this one looks exceptionally decadent. I need it in my life. Like now.

March 20, 2011 - 11:24 pm

Shawn - My friend made this last night for her St. Patrick’s Day party and it was soooooo good!!!!! We did some serious stuffing of ourselves!!!! Loved it!

March 21, 2011 - 1:12 pm

oberyl - This was soooo sinfullly delicious we volunteered to do the dishes to gain access to the pan and any morsels of leftovers that had to be scraped from the bottom (even the burned edges were awesome!). Thankfully, no video is available…

March 14, 2013 - 4:42 pm

Brigette - This looks amazing! Just had to feature your link on my blog, yum!

February 23, 2015 - 9:02 am

50 St. Patrick's Day Recipes - A Little Claireification - […] Irish Cream Bread Pudding […]

March 12, 2015 - 8:01 am

Effortless Entertaining: St. Patrick’s Day with Style | La Dolce Vita - […] For dessert, you don’t need to go green. This indulgent Irish cream bread pudding will be the perfect finishing touch to your […]

March 13, 2015 - 2:01 am

25 Irish Cream Desserts - […] Irish Cream Bread Pudding via The Curvy […]