Irish Whiskey Marmalade Bread Pudding

Mmmmmm. Did someone say Bread Pudding? Comfort food at its finest if you ask me. It is enjoyed all over the world with each country putting its own special spin on it. Like in Canada it is often made with maple syrup and in Puerto Rico you will find it with coconut milk and a rum guava sauce. So for St. Patrick’s Day I thought this Irish Whiskey Marmalade Bread Pudding would be perfection!

Bread Pudding started out as a pretty rustic dish and folks have been enjoying it for some time. It can be traced all the way back to the 11th century. It was a pretty frugal dish, made to use up bread that was going stale. In 13th century England it was referred to as ‘poor man’s pudding”. How far it has come. Not so humble anymore you can find it offered up in some of the most posh and trendy restaurants.

A couple of years ago I shared a recipe for Irish Whiskey Marmalade. I thought the bright  citrus goodness of that marmalade would be a perfect complement to my pudding. I originally got this award winning Irish Whiskey Marmalade recipe from my friend Theresa’s cookbook  Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen by Theresa Storey.

Theresa and I met in college when she was finishing up her degree in botany. After college, Theresa moved back to rural County Limerick and started her own business, The Green Apron, which is an artisan preserve company. Theresa grows much of the fruit and vegetables she uses in her preserves at her family’s orchards at Derryclough and in the walled vegetable garden at her parents 18th Century castle, Glenwilliam.

Her award-winning preserves are made in small batches by traditional methods using locally sourced, organic produce where possible and without artificial preservatives, colours or setting agents. The Green Apron has won 15 Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards, 7 International Great Taste awards and is listed not only in McKenna’s Guide, but also in Georgina Campbell’s Guide. The Green Apron is also now offering workshops on sustainable living, preserving and bee keeping.

But let me get back to today’s recipe. The Irish Whiskey Marmalade I made to brighten my bread pudding is a three fruit marmalade consisting of grapefruit, oranges and lemons and a good glug of Irish Whiskey. It is one of The Green Apron’s best-selling jams and won a bronze Blas na h’Eireann (Taste of Ireland Competition) in 2015. I have included the recipe for it which makes about 5 pints. That is quite a bit more than you need for this recipe. But I will say, it is amazing stuff. You will be delighted to have extra on hand. I have used  it to enhance other dishes in the past such as these Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts 

as well as this Irish Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail

And this scrumptious Batley Cake

Great recipes to be sure and this Bread Pudding is right at home with them. So warming, cozy and comforting and a bit boozy I must say with the whiskey in the marmalade and well as the pudding. The bright citrus flourish will remind you that Spring is right around the corner. Serve it warm with some whipped cream or ice cream. But I’ve got to tell you, this Irish Whiskey Marmalade Bread Pudding is so delicious it stands fine all on its own.

• Servings: 4 -6
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 6 – 8 slices of day old bread (I used challah, brioche would also be great, or plain white bread)
• 50 grams butter, room temperature
• 4 – 6 Tablespoon Irish Whiskey Marmalade (recipe noted below)
• 250 ml heavy cream
• 50 ml milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 4 Tablespoons demerara sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Irish Whiskey
• Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting over top

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325° F (160° C)

Butter the bread on both sides. Spread half of the pieces with marmalade. Cover with the remaining slices of bread to make marmalade sandwiches. Cut the sandwiches into quarters or halves depending on the bread size and your chosen baking dish and arrange them in the dish. I used an oval casserole measuring about 10″ x 8″. A 9″x 9″ would also work well.

Combine the cream, milk, eggs, vanilla, sugar and whiskey. Pour the mixture over the marmalade sandwiches. Set aside for 30 minutes or so to allow the bread to absorb all of that goodness.

Dot the remaining marmalade over the top of the bread. Place the dish in the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until set. Remove from oven and dust with confectioner’s sugar. Serve warm with whipped cream, ice cream or simply plain.

For the Irish Whiskey Marmalade:

Ingredients:

• 1 ruby grapefruit
• 2 medium sweet oranges
• 4 lemons
• 3.4 kg (6 pints) water
• 2.7 kg (6 lbs) sugar
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) good Irish Whiskey
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice (Please note, mixed spice is different from all-spice. Mixed spice, sometimes also called pudding spice is a British spice similar to pumpkin pie spice, containing cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. I have a link for it below, or hereis a recipe for it.)

Directions:

Place a saucer into the refrigerator to chill.

Wash the grapefruit, oranges and lemons. Remove any blemishes from the skin and cut them into quarters. Place in the food processor and process on high speed until the peel is reduced to 6-mm (1/4″) pieces. If you like a bigger peel in your marmalade, don’t process it for so long, and if you like very little peel, process it for longer.

Put the processed citrus in a preserving pot with the water, stir well and cook on a high heat, stirring occasionally, until the peel is cooked and smooshes to wee pieces between your fingers. This usually takes an hour.

Add the sugar, stir well and cook over a high heat, stirring occasionally, until the marmalade reaches setting point, with a marmalade this usually takes 20 -40 minutes.

Spoon a little of the boiling preserve onto the cold saucer. Let it cool and then push it with your finger. If it has reached setting point, the top of the blob of marmalade will wrinkle. Marmalades should have wrinkles at least 2 -3 mm hight.

Remove from heat. Skim off any seeds and sugar foam.

Add 60 ml (2 fl oz) of good Irish Whiskey and 1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice.

Pour into warm sterilized jars to within 6 mm (1/4″) of the top. Wipe any drips off the rims of the jars to make sure there is a good seal between the jar and lid. A dampened paper towel works well for this. Place the lids on and seal.

Enjoy!

Irish Whiskey Marmalade Bread Pudding brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Links for helpful kitchen tools & ingredients for Irish Whiskey Marmalade Bread Pudding:

Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen

OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

Cuisinart Pro-Classic Food Processor

Kilner Stainless Steel Jam Pan

Ball Mason 4 oz quilted jelly jars

Canning Magnetic Lid Wand

Norpro 600 Jar Lifter

Ball Canning Funnel

Mixed Spice

Oxo Good Grips Baker’s Dusting Wand

Folláin Irish Whiskey Marmalade – If you don’t have the time to make up a batch of marmalade before St. Patrick’s Day, nor can you travel to the Limerick Milk Market to buy a jar from The Green Apron, here is an option for Irish Whiskey Marmalade that will show up on your doorstep!

 

Batley Cake

Here we go, here we go, here we go! I’ve got my fourth St. Patrick’s Day recipe for you today and from now until March 17th I’ll be posting a new one every single day. Today’s gem is Batley Cake.

If you’ve never heard of it before, believe me you’ll be so glad I’m introducing you. Batley Cake consists of two layers of a soft shortbread cookie or a more cake-like scone with a layer of luscious jam sandwiched between them, all dusted with confectioners sugar. Absolutely perfect with a cup of tea, or coffee if that’s your thing.

Now you can use whatever jam for the filling that you like, provided it is a thicker, firmer jam, otherwise you risk it leaking out during the baking, leaving you with a rather amazing mess. Me? I chose that lovely Irish Whiskey Marmalade that I told you about when I made those Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts. The recipe for the Whiskey Marmalade, those adorable little Whiskey Marmalade Tarts, as well as the refreshing Irish Whiskey Marmalade Cocktail  that I just blogged about last week, all came from my friend Theresa’s debut cookbook Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen.

Theresa’s company, The Green Apron, is an award winning artisan preserve company which she runs from her family’s orchards at Derryclough located near Ballingarry, County Limerick in Ireland.

All of her preserves are made in small batches by traditional methods using locally sourced, organic produce where possible and without artificial preservatives, colours or setting agents. Her Irish Whiskey Marmalade is a three fruit marmalade consisting of grapefruit, oranges and lemons and a good glug of Irish Whiskey. It is one of The Green Apron’s best-selling jams and won a bronze Blas na h’Eireann in 2015. As you can see, jams are pretty versatile, delicious not only spread over bread and scones but also scrumptious when used in a variety of other dishes. And Theresa’s book is simply jam-packed full (har, har, har…-forgive me…) with her award winning preserves recipes. Just think of all the culinary masterpieces you can create… You simply must get a copy today!  So anyhoo, now that I’ve finished my shameless promotion of T’s book (for the moment that is…you might see another fantastic recipe of hers before St. Patrick’s Day arrives…) back to this Batley Cake.

The cake was so soft and tender, sweet but not too sweet. And what really put it over the top was that gorgeous thick layer of Irish Whiskey Marmalade – bright and fresh like a lovely spring day, which I think we’d all like to see at this point! And with that hint of whiskey flavor…well it’s just the thing to get you movin’ on a chilly March morning!

• Servings: One 8-inch cake
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

recipe from: Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen by Theresa Storey

Ingredients:

• 225 grams all-purpose flour
• 110 grams butter
• 110 grams sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon milk
• 3 Tablespoons firm jam ( I used the Green Apron’s award winning  Irish Whiskey Marmalade)
• 1 Tablespoon icing (confectioner’s) sugar

Instructions:

Grease a 20-cm. (8 inch) round cake tin and preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).

Put flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and baking powder.

Beat the egg, vanilla extract and milk together in a small bowl and then add to the dry ingredients. Blend together using a fork to form a soft dough.

Divide the dough into two and roll or pat out each piece into a 20 cm (8 inch) circle to fit the baking tin. Place one piece of the dough into the tin.

Using the back of a spoon, spread the jam over the dough in the tin to within a half inch of the edge. (If you spread it right up to the edge, the jam will escape out the sides, burn to the sides of the pan and make a mess.) Cover with the second round of dough.

Bake for around 50 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. Leave to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Just before serving, sprinkle with icing sugar to make it pretty.

Enjoy!

Batley Cake brought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Links for helpful kitchen tools & ingredients for Batley Cake:

Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen by Theresa Storey

Mason Cash The Forest Owl Mixing Bowl

Norpro Silicone Pastry Mat

Fat Daddio’s Anodized Aluminum Round Cake Pan – 8″

 

Irish Whiskey MarmaladeTarts

I can’t believe it! Here it is, March already. And St. Patrick’s Day is a mere 17 days away! That means it is time to start my annual St. Patrick’s Day blog-a-thon. In the days leading up to March 17th I will be sharing a delicious assortment of Irish-y recipes. I’ve been doing this for several years now, so I’ve collected over 80 St. Patrick’s Days recipes at this point and that doesn’t take into account all the delicious dishes coming your way this year. If you’d like to take a peek at my past St. Patrick’s Day posts, you can click Runcible Eat/Recipes up at the top navigation bar and scroll down to the St. Patrick’s Day category. That’s where you’ll find them! And stay tuned here for my latest additions. I am very excited to kick off this year’s series of Irish recipes  with these fantastic Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts. Yup…what I’m talking about here is flaky, buttery shortcrust pastry which has been filled with a delicious homemade Irish Whiskey Marmalade laced batter. Sweet, bright  and citrus-y, it is like eating a burst of sunshine with every bite.

And I am so happy to tell you where you can find this recipe, as well as over one hundred other amazing seasonal fruit recipes. It can all be found in my good friend Theresa’s debut book: Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen by Theresa Storey. Theresa and I met in college when she was finishing up her degree in botany. I can tell you first hand that she is an amazing cook, full stop. But fruit is by far her specialty.

After college, Theresa moved back to rural County Limerick and started her own business, The Green Apron, which is an artisan preserve company. Theresa grows much of the fruit and vegetables she uses in her preserves at her family’s orchards at Derryclough and in the walled vegetable garden at her parents 18th Century castle, Glenwilliam.

Her award-winning preserves are made in small batches by traditional methods using locally sourced, organic produce where possible and without artificial preservatives, colours or setting agents. The Green Apron has won 12 Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards, 7 International Great Taste awards and is listed not only in McKenna’s Guide, but also in Georgina Campbell’s Guide. The Green Apron is also now offering workshops on sustainable living, preserving and bee keeping.

Theresa’s book, Fruit on the Table is a top 10 best selling cookbook in Ireland , has won a Gourmond award there and has been selected to compete for an International Gourmond award. In her book, Theresa follows the seasons and tells you how best to keep fruit on your table all year round. It is an absolute treasure trove, filled not only with her family recipes for jams, jellies and chutneys but it also runs the full gambit of meals, including recipes for cocktails, snacks , mains and going all the way through to desserts. And it doesn’t stop with the mouthwateringly delicious recipes, Fruit on the Table also gives you the low down on growing your own fruit, the ins and outs of preserving, tips on foraging as well as drying fruit. I’m proud to be sharing several different recipes from her book this year, but I’m telling you, they’re only the tip of the iceberg. You’ve just gotta get ahold of this essential cookbook. And if you find yourself in Limerick, you simply must stop by the Limerick Milk Market and pay the Green Apron shop a visit!

Now back to these yummy Irish Whiskey Marmalade tarts. My first task here was to make up a batch of the marmalade. This Irish Whiskey Marmalade is a three fruit marmalade consisting of grapefruit, oranges and lemons and a good glug of Irish Whiskey. It is one of The Green Apron’s best-selling jams and won a bronze Blas na h’Eireann in 2015.

You will end up with much more of the marmalade than you require to make the tarts, but as you will see with some of my later posts, this marmalade is very versatile and you will be over the moon to have it around. Don’t forget to check back with me next week and see what else can be done with this scrumptious Irish Whiskey marmalade…besides eating it slathered over fresh-baked bread and scones. No brainer there…but believe me…there’s more!

Now once you have that delectable boozy marmalade, the tarts come together in a flash and would be wonderful to have on hand on St. Patrick’s Day. Perfect with a cup of tea, these tarts are slightly sweet and wonderfully fragrant. Ordinary tea time will become extra special with these irrisistible Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts on the table!

• Servings: 12 Tarts, 5 pints of Marmalade
• Print

recipe from: Fruit on the Table: Seasonal recipes from the Green Apron kitchen by Theresa Storey

For the Irish Whiskey Marmalade:

Ingredients:

• 1 ruby grapefruit
• 2 medium sweet oranges
• 4 lemons
• 3.4 l (6 pints) water
• 2.7 kg (6 lbs) sugar
• 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) good Irish Whiskey
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice (Please note, mixed spice is different from all-spice. Mixed spice, sometimes also called pudding spice is a British spice similar to pumpkin pie spice, containing cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. I have a link for it below, or here is a recipe for it.)

Directions:

Place a saucer into the refrigerator to chill.

Wash the grapefruit, oranges and lemons. Remove any blemishes from the skin and cut them into quarters. Place in the food processor and process on high speed until the peel is reduced to 6-mm (1/4″) pieces. If you like a bigger peel in your marmalade, don’t process it for so long, and if you like very little peel, process it for longer.

Put the processed citrus in a preserving pot with the water, stir well and cook on a high heat, stirring occasionally, until the peel is cooked and smooshes to wee pieces between your fingers. This usually takes an hour.

Add the sugar, stir well and cook over a high heat, stirring occasionally, until the marmalade reaches setting point, with a marmalade this usually takes 20 -40 minutes.

Spoon a little of the boiling preserve onto the cold saucer. Let it cool and then push it with your finger. If it has reached setting point, the top of the blob of marmalade will wrinkle. Marmalades should have wrinkles at least 2 -3 mm hight.

Remove from heat. Skim off any seeds and sugar foam.

Add 60 ml (2 fl oz) of good Irish Whiskey and 1 teaspoon of ground mixed spice.

Pour into warm sterilized jars to within 6 mm (1/4″) of the top. Wipe any drips off the rims of the jars to make sure there is a good seal between the jar and lid. A dampened paper towel works well for this. Place the lids on and seal.

For the Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts:

*These tarts are baked in a bun tin rather than a muffin tin. Bun tins are similar to muffin tins but are much more shallow. If you don’t have bun tin, (there is an amazon prime link for one below – you could have it tomorrow :)) you could try filling a muffin tin half way, though I haven’t tried that and can’t speak to the results.

Ingredients:

For the shortcrust pastry:

• 110 grams (4 oz.) butter (chopped)
• 225 grams (8 oz.) plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold water

For the batter:

• 75 grams (2 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 60 grams (2 oz) butter (chopped)
• 60 grams ( 2 oz.) sugar
• 1 large egg – beaten
• 1 Tablespoon Irish Whiskey Marmalade

Directions:

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs and then mix in the salt. Add the cold water, one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until the pastry holds together. You may not need to use it all. Knead it a few times until it is smooth and then cover it and put it in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6).

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface until it is about 3 mm ( 1/8″) thick. Cut out circles slightly bigger that the size of the bun hole and put them into the tin.

Mix the flour, baking powder, butter, sugar and egg together until smooth. I do this in my food processor.

Fold in the Irish Whiskey Marmalade.

Put 1 teaspoon of the batter into each pastry case.

Bake the tarts for 18 – 20 minutes until golden brown.

Remove the bun tin from the oven. Let the tarts cool in the tin for a few minutes and then carefully take them out and place them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts bought to you by: Runcible Eats (www.leaandjay.com)

Links for helpful kitchen tools & ingredients for Irish Whiskey Marmalade Tarts:

Fruit on the Table: Seasonal Recipes from the Green Apron Kitchen

OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Food Scale

Cuisinart Pro-Classic Food Processor

Kilner Stainless Steel Jam Pan

Ball Mason 4 oz quilted jelly jars

Canning Magnetic Lid Wand

Norpro 600 Jar Lifter

Ball Canning Funnel

Nonstick Twelve Hole Shallow Bun Tin

Mixed Spice