Read The Great American Slow Cooker Book Online
Authors: Bruce Weinstein
The Great American Slow Cooker Book (118 page)
4
Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture, then pour over the bread cubes and nuts. Press down with the back of a wooden spoon so that the bread is thoroughly moistened, even soaking up most of the liquid.
5
Cover and cook on high for 1½ hours in a small slow cooker, 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours in a medium cooker, or 2 to 2½ hours in a large cooker, or until the pudding is puffed and set without any evidence of liquid in the cooker. Scoop out big spoonfuls to serve.
TESTERS’ NOTES
•
We prefer dark chocolate here, maybe even 75 or 80 percent dark, to work against the already sweet cinnamon bread. We’d keep any cinnamon-
raisin
bread away from this recipe, but that’s just our preference.
•
Make sure you cool the chocolate for at least 15 minutes in step 2 to avoid scrambling the eggs.
•
For these bread puddings, cut the bread into small cubes. Larger ones won’t soften as they would in the oven.
NOT MUCH
•
PREP TIME:
10 MINUTES
•
COOK TIME:
4 HOURS
•
KEEPS ON WARM:
NO
•
SERVES:
4 TO 8
2- TO 3½-QUART
3⅔ cups milk (regular or low-fat)
1 cup white Arborio rice
1 cup roughly chopped dried sweet or tart cherries
1 cup sugar
3 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into little bits
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp salt
⅛ tsp almond extract
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
4- TO 5½-QUART
6 cups (1½ quarts) milk (regular or low-fat)
1⅔ cups white Arborio rice
1½ cups roughly chopped dried sweet or tart cherries
1½ cups sugar
5 tblsp unsalted butter, cut into little bits
2 tsp vanilla extract
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp almond extract
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
6- TO 8-QUART
8 cups (2 quarts) milk (regular or low-fat)
2¼ cups white Arborio rice
2¼ cups roughly chopped dried sweet or tart cherries
2 cups sugar
8 tblsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into little bits
1 tblsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ tsp almond extract
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1
Stir the milk, rice, cherries, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and almond extract in the slow cooker until the sugar has dissolved.
2
Cover and cook on high, stirring twice, for 4 hours, or until thick and rich.
3
Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl until creamy, about 1 minute. Whisk in a cup or two of the hot rice pudding until smooth. Whisk the mixture back into the pudding in the cooker until evenly distributed. Serve warm.
TESTERS’ NOTES
•
Arborio rice, the same kind used to make risotto, gives this pudding a thick, sticky texture.
•
Use sweet or tart cherries, depending on preference.
•
The egg yolks here are not really thickeners; instead, they’re enrichers, designed to take this pudding over the top. Thus, they don’t need extra cooking time for setting the pudding. And in terms of food safety, they’ll pop right up to a hot temperature, given the volume of the pudding.
A LITTLE
•
PREP TIME:
15 MINUTES
•
COOK TIME:
2 HOURS 10 MINUTES
•
KEEPS ON WARM:
NO
•
SERVES:
4 TO 8
2- TO 3½-QUART
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup milk
7 tblsp sugar
⅓ cup small pearl tapioca
⅓ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
⅛ tsp salt
1 yolk large eggs
⅓ cup diced, peeled, and pitted mango
4- TO 5½-QUART
1½ cups coconut milk
1½ cups milk
¾ cup sugar
½ cup small pearl tapioca
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ tsp salt
1 whole large eggs
½ cup diced, peeled, and pitted mango
6- TO 8-QUART
2¼ cups coconut milk
2¼ cups milk
1 cup plus 2 tblsp sugar
¾ cup small pearl tapioca
¾ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ tsp salt
1 whole large egg plus 1 yolk
¾ cup diced, peeled, and pitted mango
1
Stir the coconut milk, milk, sugar, tapioca, coconut, and salt in the slow cooker until the sugar dissolves.
2
Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or until the tapioca is transparent and soft.
3
Whisk the egg in a medium bowl, then whisk in a cup or two of the hot pudding. Whisk the mixture back into the pudding in the cooker until uniform throughout.
4
Set the temperature on low and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes, or until thickened a bit. Stir in the mango to serve.
TESTERS’ NOTES
•
Tapioca puddings are an old-fashioned dessert, rich and comforting. Don’t use instant tapioca, sometimes found in the baking aisle; and don’t use the large tapioca pearls found in bubble teas at Asian restaurants. Instead, use the standard small tapioca pearls.
INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Tapioca is a starch from the cassava root, used as a thickener or additive in custards and sauces. By the way, in Great Britain, tapioca is a pudding thickened with arrowroot—not at all this American dessert.
ALL-AMERICAN KNOW-HOW
To peel and pit a mango, balance it on one long, thin side on your cutting board, then slice down on either side of the large pit inside, leaving about 1 inch in the center of the fruit. With the cut side facing you slice the flesh in each half into small squares while still in the peel without cutting through, like cutting brownies in a pan. Invert the peels, turning them inside out like knitted caps, and slice off these small squares. Finally, cut the remaining peel away from the flesh around the pit and slice off as much flesh as possible, dicing or chopping it as the recipe requires.
Given our druthers, we’d always have fruit for dessert. Or better yet, fruit
in
dessert. We’re partial to crisps, cobblers, and clafoutis. Unfortunately, fruit isn’t a year-round thing, despite the illusion induced by international trade. Apples in May are a tad squishy; plums in January, unforgivable.
The slow cooker is more forgiving. Many of these desserts will work well with frozen peaches, raspberries, or sour cherries. In fact, much of that frozen fruit is picked closer to perfection than the stuff that ends up in the supermarket bins. After all, the fruit in the freezer case has had no time to ripen further in transport and storage. It has to be picked fairly ripe before it hits the deep freeze.
But in most cases, frozen fruit has to be thawed before it can go into the slow cooker. And here’s the problem: you put it in a bowl in the fridge overnight and the next day, you’re left with lots of water as well as thawed fruit. Drain off that water; it can bog down these desserts.
Beyond the crisps and such, we’ve got some desserts that are elemental:
Stuffed Apples
,
Wine-Poached Pears
, and
Bananas Foster
. And we round it out with some fruit-based dessert sauces, perfect for drizzling onto pound cake slices, spooning over ice cream, or layering in a trifle or parfait. No wonder we like fruit for dessert.
A LITTLE
•
PREP TIME:
15 MINUTES
•
COOK TIME:
6 HOURS
•
KEEPS ON WARM:
2 HOURS THROUGH STEP 1
•
SERVES:
4 TO 12
2- TO 3½-QUART
4 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced peaches
1 cup fresh raspberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tblsp
instant tapioca
1 tblsp all-purpose flour
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
⅛ tsp salt
2 tblsp unsalted butter
1 cup no-fruit-added plain granola
4- TO 5½-QUART
8 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced peaches
2 cups fresh raspberries
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup
instant tapioca
2 tblsp all-purpose flour
2 tblsp fresh lemon juice
⅛ tsp salt
4 tblsp (½ stick) unsalted butter
2 cups no-fruit-added plain granola
6- TO 8-QUART
12 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced peaches
3 cups fresh raspberries
¾ cup granulated sugar
6 tblsp
instant tapioca
3 tblsp all-purpose flour
2½ tblsp fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp salt
6 tblsp (¾ stick) unsalted butter
3 cups no-fruit-added plain granola
1
Stir the peaches, raspberries, sugar, tapioca, flour, lemon juice, and salt in the slow cooker until the sugar dissolves. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours, or until thick and bubbling.
2
Melt the butter in a skillet set over medium heat. Stir in the granola; cook, tossing often, until buttery, warm, and aromatic, about 3 minutes.
3
Dish up the peach filling into bowls and sprinkle the granola topping over each serving.
TESTERS’ NOTES
•
Feel free to substitute frozen peach slices and frozen raspberries for the fresh fruit here. Thaw in a big bowl, then pour off the excess liquid.
•
Vary the size of the skillet, depending on how much granola you need. You might even want to prepare the topping for a large slow cooker in batches—or simply enough for the number of servings you’ll be dishing up right then. If so, reduce the butter to compensate.
A LITTLE
•
PREP TIME:
20 MINUTES
•
COOK TIME:
1½ TO 2 HOURS
•
KEEPS ON WARM:
NO
•
SERVES:
4 TO 8
FOR THE FILLING
2- TO 3½-QUART
4 cups pitted sour cherries
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1½ tblsp
instant tapioca
1 tblsp all-purpose flour
4- TO 5½-QUART
6 cups pitted sour cherries
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tblsp
instant tapioca
5 tsp all-purpose flour
6- TO 8-QUART
8 cups pitted sour cherries
1⅓ cups granulated sugar
3 tblsp
instant tapioca
2 cups all-purpose flour
FOR THE TOPPING
2- TO 3½-QUART
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tblsp packed light brown sugar
3 tblsp ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
6 tblsp milk
4 tblsp (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes
½ tsp almond extract
4- TO 5½-QUART
2 tblsp all-purpose flour
1½ cups all-purpose flour
5 tblsp packed light brown sugar
5 tblsp ground almonds
½ tblsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ cup plus 1 tblsp milk
6 tblsp (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes
¾ tsp almond extract
6- TO 8-QUART
2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tblsp packed light brown sugar
6 tblsp ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup milk
8 tblsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled for 5 minutes
1 tsp almond extract
1
To make the filling, mix the cherries, sugar, tapioca, and flour in the slow cooker until the sugar has begun to dissolve on the cherries.
2
To make the topping, whisk the flour, brown sugar, almonds, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk the milk, butter, and almond extract in a second bowl until creamy. Then use a wooden spoon to stir these wet ingredients into the flour mixture.
3
Use a tablespoon to dollop the batter over the top of the filling. Overlap long strips of paper towels over the top of the cooker.
4
Cover and cook on high for 1½ hours in a small slow cooker, 1 hour 45 minutes in a medium cooker, or 2 hours in a large one, or until the filling is bubbling and the topping is firm if still a tad spongy to the touch.
TESTERS’ NOTES
•
Use fresh sour cherries or thawed frozen ones. Or use drained canned pitted sour cherries packed in water. Because some of the tartness is missing from canned cherries, add up to ½ tablespoon lemon juice to the filling ingredients.
•
As you well know, things don’t brown in the slow cooker. If pale biscuits as a cobbler topping bother you, sprinkle each with a light dusting of ground cinnamon before cooking.
A LITTLE
•
PREP TIME:
15 MINUTES
•
COOK TIME:
1 HOUR 15 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR 45 MINUTES
•
KEEPS ON WARM:
1 HOUR
•
SERVES:
3 TO 8
2- TO 3½-QUART
6 small fresh apricots, halved and pitted
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
¾ cup sour cream (regular or low-fat)
⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup milk
½ tblsp vanilla extract
⅛ tsp salt
½ cup all-purpose flour
4- TO 5½-QUART
10 small fresh apricots, halved and pitted
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tblsp sour cream (regular or low-fat)
½ cup packed light brown sugar
6 tblsp milk
2½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup all-purpose flour
6- TO 8-QUART
16 small fresh apricots, halved and pitted
10 large egg yolks, at room temperature
2 cups sour cream (regular or low-fat)
¾ cup plus 1 tblsp packed light brown sugar
½ cup plus 2 tblsp milk
1 tblsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups all-purpose flour