What Do Candied Orange Peel, Bread Pudding and Pancakes Have in Common?

Candied Orange Peels

Boy did I have a busy day. I started out by making bread pudding. I had a stale loaf of challah lying around and I wanted to play with an idea. I think I mentioned before that a friend from school gave me an idea to make bread pudding with grand marnier. So, I did. But I also wanted to see how candied orange peels would look, or fit in, with it. So, I found the recipe, or just method in this case, and got down to it. You can find the method here.

You can see they turned out beautifully, or at least I think so. They do kinda look like over salted french fries but when you actually look at them the color orange is beautiful.

But, I did my bread pudding which I use a Paula Deen recipe as my base and modify it to fit what I want. Here it is. I used half Grand Marnier and orange juice in place of vanilla extract and the brady. It didn't come out as orangy as I wished it to be. There's only a slight hint of it, but still very yummy. Next time I'm using straight Grand Marnier in place of the brandy and orange extract in place of vanilla. I would have used extract this time but I forgot to pick it up. Ditzy me.

Then, me and the girls (AKA my mom and daughter) went to the local Children's Museum and stayed way longer than I thought we would or should. And I had breakfast for dinner (a family tradition) to look forward to. And I was making pancakes. Well, my mom brought up that she saw Paula Deen make pancakes that morning and they looked good. So, of course I had to try them. Only thing: she calls for seperated eggs and to fold in the whipped egg whites. Folding in egg whites is the bane of my existence. As an aspiring pastry chef I know I should suck it up and get over it but I severely dislike it. And when it comes to pancakes I think it should be like this: throw it in the bowl, throw it on the skillet, throw it on the plate. I'm all for pancakes from scratch but it shouldn't be a production. The best pancakes I've had are just simple muffin method pancakes.


I do have to say they came out just fine but nothing spectacular or amazing. If you want to try it you can find it here. I didn't try the cinnamon cream that you find with the recipe and I only put the chocolate chips in some of them but I'm definitely trying the cinnamon cream next time.

So, I had a Food Network kind of day and I'm exhausted. So, until next time:
“A person can be as sweet as honey or as heavy as steel.” Greek Proverb