Somewhat similar to that of my wedding day, I remember talking to people, and eating, and drinking but when I go to recollect it is all a blur. The 2nd annual International Food Bloggers Conference came to an end today. Sad and relieved all at once as my pillow is not only calling my name at this point, it’s downright screaming it. If you followed me on Twitter this weekend at all you know I consumed what one may consider to be a large amount of beer (though really that’s subjective ) with others whom I won’t rat out but I think that might be contributing to my overtired self as well.
I went the conference with two goals in mind. To meet and greet people that I had been On-line friends with, and to hopefully get inspired to be a good blogger again. As anyone who runs a blog knows the motivation wall often pops up, mine lately being the size of the Great Wall of China. I am happy to report that both things happened. And more importantly, I made new friends as well.
By far the most inspiration for me (as for many others) was the Penny De Los Santos, who is a food photographer for Saveur magazine. Not only are her photos absolutely incredible, but her passion for what she does emanated with every word that came out of her mouth. Loving the phrase that you don’t take photos, you make photos. I thought that was the best.
Honorable mention goes to Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef who also has passion that shines through. She also makes a mean blackberry and peach cobbler I might add.
There were a variety of topics covered. I only skipped one session, on ethics…to drink beer. How ethical is that?
All in all it was a very positive experience and God and finances willing, I will be going to the conference again next year.
Since I was tired but still inspired I knew I needed to go home and make something quickly before the call of the bed won me over. I went simple with this insanely easy, yet yummy bread pudding. If you are an Oreo cookie dunker, this bread pudding is for you. You are essentially dunking a whole bunch of cookies into the custard and letting them take a soak. Then pour that over the bread, bake it off, and top with fudge sauce.
And with that, this food blogger is going to get very familiar with her bed (please remove mind from gutter).

(Best photo op…me and the Swedish Chef. Sorry the picture is small, from my phone)

Cookies and Cream Bread Pudding

(AKA…My pants no longer fit after the IFBC Cookies and Cream Bread Pudding)

2 ½ cups heavy cream

5 egg yolks

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Roughly 25 Oreo (or other sandwich cookie)…I say roughly as I got to eating a few and lost count (my bad)

One medium sized loaf of brioche bread or French bread (fresh), cut into cubes

Fudge Sauce (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Butter a 8-x-8-inch pan.

Pour cream into a large bowl. Add Oreos. Let them soak in refrigerator. A good soak. A long day at the office need time in the tub with wine soak. So about 20 minutes…or longer.

Add in egg yolks one at a time, whisk vigorously after each yolk is added. Repeat until all the yolks are gone. Add vanilla extract and sugar and whisk vigorously again. At this point the cookies should be pretty darn good and mushed up and easily mixable. If not, be less wimpy and whisk more vigorously than what you were doing.

Scatter bread pieces into the prepared pan.

Pour the custard over the bread. Press down the bread pieces until the bread is soaked with the custard. You will most likely have extra custard, because some bread is more absorbent that others, don’t feel like you have to use all the custard.

Place pan into another pan that will hold a water bath. Bake the bread pudding for 45 minutes until golden on top. Cool 10 minutes and serve warm and topped with fudge sauce.
Fudge Sauce

2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 unsalted butter
1 heaping cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
In a large saucepan, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Cook and stir over low heat until melted and smooth in texture.
Gradually add the powdered sugar and evaporated milk, 1/3 cup at a time.
Increase heat to a boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for 7-8 minutes.
Remove from heat, and then stir in vanilla and salt.

To say that I am overwhelmed is an understatement. As is my mom. In true fashion of my mom though, it was not so much the monetary donations that moved her (though that is nice too), she was so moved by the comments that people left for her through the American Cancer Society.

“People left such wonderful comments to me…they don’t even know me”.

I kindly reminded her that the kind of do since I spill her secrets on here from time to time. Which I am sure she feels is all worth it now. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of you who donated!!!! You amazing, amazing people have helped her raise $900!!! $900. In my wildest dreams I didn’t think we would raise so much.

As promised, here is this simple yet insanely good Chocolate Hazelnut Financier with Nutella Ganache. Though this looks simple, there are a couple of steps that make it a little time consuming, but they need to be done. Don’t let that stop you from making it, they aren’t hard, they just take a little time. And when you are done, you will have a cake that will help remind you that life truly is worth living!!!

There is still time to donate, so if you want to help you can go read about it HERE!

Chocolate Hazelnut Financier with Nutella Ganache

4 TBSP unsalted butter
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1 ¼ cups heavy cream
1/3 cup Nutella
1 ½ cups hazelnut meal
1 cup almond meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup powdered sugar
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
7 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place oven rack in center of oven. Spray a 10×2-inch round cake pan with pan spray, line with a piece of parchment paper, then coat paper lightly with pan spray.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until solids separate and brown to a dark golden color, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool at room temperature until it reaches 70 degrees F, about 30 minutes. Don’t chill; it needs to remain liquid. Set aside.

Place chopped chocolate and 1/3 cup Nutella in a medium bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Immediately pour hot cream over chocolate.

Using a spatula, slowly stir in a circular motion, starting from center of bowl and working out to sides. Stir until all chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Set aside at room temperature to cool to 70 degrees F.

Sift together almond flour, hazelnut flour, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, baking powder and salt into bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or use a large bowl and hand mixer. Turn mixer on low speed and mix dry ingredients 30 seconds.

Add egg whites all at once and mix on medium speed 3 minutes.

Add chocolate mixture and vanilla and mix 30 seconds.

Add melted butter all at once. Be sure to scrape in all browned bits from bottom of pan. Mix 30 seconds on medium speed, then turn mixer to high speed and mix 3 minutes more, scraping down sides of bowl well.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate cake for even browning and bake 15 minutes more, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, the invert it onto rack, remove cake pan and parchment and cool completely before decorating and serving.

Nutella Ganache

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy whipping cream
½ cup Nutella

Place chocolate and Nutella in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat.
Immediately pour boiling cream over chopped chocolate and Nutella. Tap bowl on counter to settle chocolate into cream, then let stand 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, slowly stir in a circular motion, starting from center of bowl and working out to sides.

Stir until all chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. It may look done after 1 minute of stirring, but keep going to make sure it’s emulsified.

Pour ganache on top of cake and spread to cover.

Recipe adapted from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

I have a gift. A gift for attracting strange people. So does my bff. We have come to the conclusion that we are smilers and that is what gets us into trouble. I’m almost always smiling and I have a habit of smiling at people. Which doesn’t sound odd, but if you really pay attention, not that many people do.

I loved in the movie Elf when he says “Smiling’s my favorite”. Not because it is my favorite, hockey is my favorite, but because I could relate.
Usually I get strange looks when I smile at people.
I’ve been asked more time I can count if I’m on drugs. For the record, I am not.
I get the half smile while you can see their mind racing thinking, how do I know this person? You don’t…I’m just being…wait for it…friendly.
And then you get the super crazy people that because you smiled at them they now want to be your bff and tell you all about their life. I find a lot of these. And yet it does not deter me…it just usually gives me good stories.
I also get a lot of offers to convert to random religions.

I know I got this trait from my mom. There have been more than a few occasions when a complete stranger has been at our house for a holiday (my mom loves people over for Thanksgiving…both, Easter, and New Year’s Day). All because my mom smiled and struck up a conversation. Then she found out that they had no where to go for the holiday and the next thing you know, stranger next to me at the dinner table. So apparently it rubbed off. I mean, I haven’t had an strays at my dinner table yet, but I wouldn’t put it past me not to do it.

Baking of course is something that makes me smile as well. I was standing in the kitchen this morning baking these jumbles and I caught myself smiling. No one was around, it was just for me…the smiling fool. And of course the fact that there is caramel in these makes me smile as well.
These are a take on the ever popular jam jumble cookie bar. But they are made better because they have chocolate and caramel. Mmmmm. Pretty simple to make, other that the annoying unwrapping of the caramels. But if you can get passed that, and I’m sure you can, you have yourself a nice little treat.

Oatmeal Turtle Jumbles

For the Base & Topping:
6 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾  cup granulated sugar
¾  cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 ¾  cups all-purpose flour
½  tsp baking soda
½  tsp salt
1 ½  cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup purchased caramels halved ( might have added a few more )

For the Filling:

¾ cup milk chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup pecans (it called for chopped but I left mine whole)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; coat an 8 ½  x 12-inch baking sheet with nonstick spray (I used a 9-x-13-inch pan, worked fine),

Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the egg and mix to blend, followed by the flour, baking soda, and salt; mix to incorporate. Add in oats and mix on low speed until incorporated.

Crumble 2 cups of dough over the bottom of the prepared baking sheet. Press to cover base of the pan (don’t push dough up the sides); set aside.

Add halved caramels to remaining dough, working them in with your fingers; set aside for the topping.

Melt chocolate chips, condensed milk, and cocoa powder together for the filling in a saucepan over medium- low heat. Cook until mixture is smooth, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Off heat, stir in the pecans and vanilla.

Pour the filling over the dough in the pan and spread evenly. The layer will be fairly thin.

Crumble dough with caramel pieces evenly over the top of the chocolate. Bake bars for 30 minutes, or until chocolate is set and topping is firm. Cool bars completely before cutting.

Adapted from Cuisine at Home Magazine

I don’t know.

Those are the three most hated words in my father’s vocabulary. When growing up, if you got in trouble those were the last words my father wanted to hear.
“Why did you do it?”
“I don’t know.”

Now I caught on at an early age that it was actually better just to make some crap up than it was to answer with I don’t know (which truly, I didn’t know). My oldest brother however did not.

We had a large backyard when we lived in Flagstaff. One that did not have a fence. But on one side of the yard was a rock wall. One day after my brother did something stupid and then gave the answer of I don’t know, my father had him move the rock wall from one end of our vast yard to the other. It took him all day. I mean ALL day. And at the end of the day my dad told him “nice job, tomorrow, move it back to where it was”. My brother was quite puzzled at this. When he asked why…you guessed it, my father’s reply was “I don’t know”.

The only problem is sometimes you really just don’t know. Really. There are so many times in my life when I just don’t know. Especially when it comes to eating out.

I get quite a few emails about how I come up with my ideas. Some I get inspired by eating somewhere. Some by reading a recipe. And the main answer is….I don’t know. It’s just how my brain works. I don’t know is also not an answer my readers like to hear. But sadly, that’s the truth.

Take these shortbread for example. We were talking about why Double Stuff is better than regular Oreo’s because the filling is the best. The next thing you know I am writing down on a scrap piece of paper to make chocolate shortbread with the centers of Double Stuff in it. My friend asked me how I got that out of our conversation….

I don’t know.

Double Stuff Oreo-Chocolate Chip Shortbread

1 ½ sticks butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup white rice flour
3 TBSP dark unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups Oreo Double Stuff centers (this is about 30 cookies)

Grease and flour a 9-by-13-inch pan.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the vanilla extract and mix for 30 seconds.

Next add the flours and cocoa powder and mix until the dough is smooth, about 1 minute.

With the mixer on low, add in the chocolate chips. Mix until combined. Then add the Double Stuff centers. You don’t want to crush them too much so make sure to you don’t over mix. You want to see the pieces in there.

Gently press the dough evenly into the pan. Place the pan into the top half of the oven and bake until the shortbread is set, about 18 to 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool 15 minutes.

Using a sharp paring knife score the top of the still warm but cooling short bread. Cut in any size you prefer. Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a cutting board. Let cool an additional 10 minutes.