Featured Posts
Soft Pretzel Bread Pudding
When Sabrina asked me if wanted team up with her for her Fodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Battle Local Foods I replied not with a yes, but with a “Can we make bread pudding out of Philadelphia soft pretzels?”
Sabrina agreed to pick up some local ingredients for the creation. The result, in my opinion, was fabulous. The chunky pretzel bits made it a hybrid between monkey bread and bread pudding; I think the chocolate won over the judges. : )
(Photo courtesy of Sabrina)
Ingredients
- 3 unsalted soft pretzels
- 3 salted soft pretzels
- 2 Eggland’s Best eggs
- 1 1/2 C 1% milk
- 1/2 C Half & Half
- 1/2 C Sugar
- 1 T vanilla extract
- a few shakes of cinnamon
- 1/2 – 3/4 C chocolate chips
Directions
- Whisk the milk, half & half, eggs, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a bowl.
- Rip the pretzels into pieces between 1 and 2 inches long. Add them to the wet mix and coat them.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Place everything in a sprayed baking dish.
- Cook at 350* for 45 minutes.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Serves 12 – 14.
(Photo courtesy of Sabrina)
The garnish was all Sabrina’s idea. She took her delightful chocolate covered pretzel rods to the next level by melting some Hershey’s baking chocolate and dunking bits of soft pretzel.
(Photo courtesy of Sabrina)
The whole evening was such fun! Make sure to read Sabrina’s recap of the event to learn each team’s entire menu and the judging results. Some of the judge’s comments were pretty funny. I’ll give you a hint about which one was Mark’s – he’s very scared of swallowing toothpicks.
My final thoughts on the whole local food battle are that it can be really challenging but worthwhile to find truly local food. It was exciting to exciting butter churned by nearby Amish and asparagus grown locally. There is definitely more of a connection to the food when it’s local.
But last night during dessert I was wondering about the other team’s flour. Where did it come from? Probably not local. But then I was thinking about our pretzels. While they were made in a local bakery, were the ingredients really local? Again, probably not. The whole challenge was exciting and really made me think about where my food, even the “local” things, are coming from.
Is local important to you? What do you do to get local food?
That bread pudding is genius! I love what you did with it. I do my best to buy local food whenever possible,and with the weather getting nicer, it’s getting increasingly easier!
Wow, that looks amazing – I have actually never tried bread pudding. I try to buy local food in the summer, especially fruits & vegetables.
I LOVE BREAD PUDDING. Omg I would go crazy over this!!! What a great job you both did, I am so impressed!
Amazing! Were the pretzels salted?
Ha just reread..
Great recap and recipe Heather! Thanks again for your help- it was so nice spending time with you (and Mark) and I had such a blast!
I thought about the flour and raw ingredients too. Tough to be completely local.
THIS WAS PHENOMENAL!!! Great to see you guys Heather!!!!
Yum, yum, yum! This looks awesome! Gosh, it’s been a LONG time since I had a soft pretzel but I’m craving one ASAP.
Oh my gosh! You are so cute with your local bread pudding. I would have never thought to make that. Can’t wait to see what you make next!
I forgot to say that I’m just looking into getting local & organic produce through a delivery service. I just don’t know which one to use yet. I shop at New Seasons for organic produce. I need to get to some farmers markets for the best stuff.
Local is super important to me. I worked, selling my granola bars, at a local farmer’s market last summer. It was eye opening in many ways. I loved getting to know the farmers and seeing how much they love educating people about food and taking so much care in their farms. The quality of food is noticeably better and I loved being able to support these smaller farms. Now in Colorado, we have even more farmer’s markets. It’s one of my favorite things to buy from the markets rather than the grocery store.
Hi! I was wondering where you’ve been! Apparently Sabrina’s! The bread pudding looks amazing.
I made an olive tapenade (I know you want to hurl at the thought, sorry) for my mozzarella lunch sandwiches and it is to die for! I spontaneously yelled “DELICIOUS!” after my first taste!
What a great idea!
It sounds delicious and inventive
I saw this on Sabrinas blog and was hoping for the recipe somewhere! It sounds sooo good!
That looks so awesome! I shop at farmer’s markets all summer to get delicious local food
how fun! And the bread pudding sounds amazing.
Yeah, that’s the hardest thing I’m running into when looking for local goods: grains and flours! I actually found a few grain mills in Virginia, but I haven’t found out where they get their grains FROM that they mill.
Either way, I think going with non-chain places and as local as you can is always helpful to the community around you.
GENIUS!
I saw Sabrina’s recap and immediately got excited for this recipe. I am SO making this for Mother’s Day brunch next weekend — thanks so much for posting!
That bread pudding looks amazing! I love pretzels and chocolate.
I try to buy as locally as possible, though I do buy bananas and veggies that have traveled from afar in the winter. I love farmer’s markets; my husband is much more worried about letting me loose at a farmer’s market with a wad of cash than at the mall:)
The “what is local?” question can go pretty deep. Even if the flour is milled locally, sometimes the grains are not as local. Makes you realize how much goes into foods that are minimally processed, let alone those with a ton of ingredients.
Oh — question — did you guys use fresh pretzels or day-old?
I am super excited for you to try it. The pretzels were fresh from that morning. When you make it be sure there is enough liquid. The pretzels are like sponges!
I try to buy local as much as possible, but of course I could do even better. It’s really important to me to seek out local growers because I like the idea of keeping my money in my community, helping the environment, and knowing exactly where my food comes from.
Yum! This looks so good. I want some right now for breakfast.
Oooh, interesting idea and post! First off, love the idea of bread pudding made with pretzels, and second, the idea of a local foods battle. I say local food is important to me, but how often do I buy local food? I guess you don’t know the answer to that! I do go to the farmer’s market in the summer to get locally grown vegetables. The rest of the time I go to the super market…I’m sure my bananas came from another country, I haven’t the slightest idea where my flour comes from, or where the dried apricots come from, etc. I’ve wanted to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle for a long time so I could read about Barbara Kingsolver eating locally for a whole year, I should probably pick it up.
That’s such a creative and clever recipe, and it looks super duper yummy! Mmmmmm….Plus local things always taste fresher!
Oh my goodness, that bread pudding looks waaaayy too good!
holy.delicious. what a great idea, and it LOOKS like a masterpiece!
That bread pudding sounds marvelous. I’ve been non-stop thinking about soft pretzels and chocolate since Meghann blogged about a chocolate covered soft pretzel.
I try to eat local when I can. Next semester I’m getting on the local food plan at Brown where I’ll get produce from farmers weekly
That sounds like an awesome meal plan option! Can’t wait to read more about it.
Hello. I’ve enjoyed reading your blog for awhile now but have never posted a comment.
I just finished reading Animal Vegetable Miracles by Barbara Kingsolver and highly recommend it! It’s her memoir about her own family’s year-long local food challenge. She writes beautifully, also, which doesn’t hurt! She really opened my eyes to the idea of making local food a priority due to the amount of fuel that is used to ship non-local food products both nationally and internationally. My boyfriend and I are going to challenge ourselves to one month of only local food! Wish us luck!
Check it out!
Good luck! Do you have a blog for me to check out?
I’m pretty passionate about local food but I live in the Bay Area where it’s easy! When I move to Boise in 2 months, I may change my tune a bit…
Um, yum. That looks so good!
I’m really excited because the local farmer’s market starts up again soon and will be open until the fall. We try to get all of our produce and cheese there when we can!
Local is important to me but I know that not everything I eat can be local. I don’t see any pineapples or coconuts growing in MA.
But I grew up on Philly Soft Pretzels and that looks like a fun fabulous recipe.
I know! I really wish there was some banana trees in New Jersey.
Wow that looks delicious!! Anyway, I am getting ready for the farmer’s market to open up next month. I love the fresh veggies and fruits. I know they don’t last as long but they sure taste sooooo much!
looks like you had a lot of fun and this recipe sounds delicious!
That looks REALLY good…esp. with the ice cream!
UNREAL!! You’ve made this Philly native quite proud
Two words: Holy YUM!
You´re talented, girl
Have a great night!
Brazilian XOXO´s,
Gabriela
Good day, good blogging. Want to get cash for blogging? Check out: http://bit.ly/PaidWriting