Cranberry Bread Pudding
A different kind of bread pudding, with cranberries!
Tag: maritimes
Cranberry Chiffon Pie
Very light cranberries mousse pie – would make an outstanding Thanksgiving dessert!
Scalloped Oysters
Another recipe from the Maritimes in Wartime, this dish is meant to stretch your small amount of oysters into a meal for a family, and it does so pretty darn well!
Ingredients
125 g egg noodles 3 tbsp butter 3 tbsp flour 1.5 cups milk 2 tbsp chopped parsley 1/4 tsp mace salt and cayenne pepper 4 hardboiled eggs, sliced 12 oysters (I used frozen) buttered breadcrumbs
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F and butter baking dish. Cook the egg noodles in salted water for 6-8 minutes and then drain. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook for 1 minutes. Add the milk, stirring to remove lumps. Simmer while stirring, until thickened. Add parsley and seasonings and remove from head. Alternate layers of sauce with layers of noodles/oysters/eggs. (I just mixed them all together). Cover with breadcrumbs. Bake for 15 minutes.
This was pretty easy to put together – noodles, white sauce, boiled eggs and raw oysters (yes, they cook fully in the 15 mins this dish bakes).
Draining the noodles and oysters 
White sauce
I fully drained the oysters. I think I might try saving the oyster juice once they thawed, and adding that to the dish. Currently, it’s not very oyster-y.
Everything coming together 
Final mix 
Before oven 
After oven
The verdict
I really like this dish! It was a nice casserole, and I liked the egg and oysters. Given that we are not currently living under wartime rationing, I’d probably double the oysters, leaving the rest of the recipe the same.
Also, do use the cayenne – it really goes surprisingly well with the oysters.
Oeufs au pain (bread pudding soufflé)
The lightest, airiest bread pudding I’ve ever tried – total winner!
Grandma’s Strawberry Shortcake
The best strawberry shortcake, by far. It uses a bannock base, rather than pound cake or angel food cake – kind of a Nova Scotian twist. And that’s what makes it the best!
This dish also relies on really good strawberries. Go for local berries with big strawberry flavour and soft texture, rather than the imported ones that travel well.
Ingredients
Base: 4 cups flour 10 tsp baking powder 1 teas salt 3/4 cup sugar 3/4 cup shortening or lard 2 cups milk Filling/topping: 1 quart of fresh strawberries 1/4 cup sugar 1 cup whipping cream 1 tbsp sugar
Instructions
Hull and slice strawberries. Mix with sugar, and let sit. The juice will come out of the berries, and that's what you want. Preheat oven to 425 Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening or lard. Add milk. Spread dough into a greased 9x13" pan. Bake for 20 minutes, or until tester comes out clean. Whip whipping cream and add sugar. To assemble: Cut a square of bannock, then slice in half horizontally. On the bottom half, pile strawberries (and their juice) and top with whipped cream. Put the top on, then pile on more strawberries and whipped cream.
This is a must-do dessert every year at strawberry season. I’ve also done it with other fresh fruits (e.g. blackberries), but the strawberry version is the one that I really want.
Unfortunately I was so eager to get eating that I didn’t take a photo of the bannock or the assembly. Shucks, I’ll have to make this again …
The verdict
Always a winner. Definitely make this.
Chocolate Marshmallow Ice Cream
This was a very unusual looking recipe when I picked it out of Wartime Recipes from the Maritimes. And it certainly ended up being extremely odd! (It also resulted in some science experiments with marshmallows and the freezer).
Since one is left with half a can of condensed milk after attempting this dessert (and food waste is certainly not in the spirit of this cookbook), I made a half recipe of Toastaroons with the excess (the easiest cookies I’ve ever made – those wartime cooks knew something about really easy but good desserts!).
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup condensed milk, divided (about 1.5 cans) 1/2 cup water 2 squares (2 ounces) chocolate, chopped 16 marshmallows 1/4 cup white sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
Heat water, chocolate, and 1/2 cup condensed milk in a double boiler, stirring until chocolate has melted. Add the marshmallows, sugar, salt, and lemon juice, and continue stirring until the marshmallows have melted and the mixture is smooth. Chill. Beat the remaining cup of condensed milk [? evaporated listed in original here] until light, and fold into the marshmallow mixture. Pour into a shallow container and freeze for at least 3 hours before serving.
The recipe was pretty straightforward.
The whipping of the condensed milk was a little odd. It didn’t add much volume, and I’m not sure how stable the whipped milk was. But still straightforward.
I though it would, you know, freeze. In the freezer. Like ice cream. That … did not happen.
It tasted like very, very, VERY sweet, thick, half-melted soft serve. It poured from a spoon after over 3 hours in the freezer (and, as we learned, it still poured after a couple more days in the freezer too). We think it stays liquid-y because of the marshmallow (we had fun freezing and thawing one to try to test this theory).
Now, full disclosure, the “remaining cup” in the printed recipe lists “evaporated milk”, although condensed milk appears everywhere else. But I have some hope that it was intended to be evaporated milk, because I don’t know how anyone could make something so sickly sweet!? And why add an extra 1/4 cup of sugar to condensed milk and marshmallow?! Also, why does this recipe make SO much!? (My kid loved it, though).
The verdict
I might make this again to try subbing in evaporated milk for that last cup (I will report back here if I do). Or, you know, if I really want to horrify my dentist. Otherwise, I think this is one of those “interesting to try once” recipes.
Do you like really sweet desserts? Did you modify the recipe and try it? Let us know!
