With Christmas coming up, why not use the dessert round’s ingredients to create a sweet casserole dish for Christmas morning (who cares if the kids are going to get more hyper? It’s Christmas Day. It’s allowed). In the basket for round three were: crumpets, quince, butterscotch chips and whole allspice. Not too difficult to combine. In fact, the first thing I thought of was the baked French toast (okay, it’s bread pudding) I made last Christmas. Sure, French toast or bread pudding, but give it a twist and you could very well create something the judges would love. I would, however, NOT repeat the exact same recipe (how can I? Crumpets aren’t sweet like Hong Kong style “cocktail” bread).
What would I do? First, I would grind the allspice and set it aside. This would be combined with a mixture consisting of 3/4 cups of chocolate milk, two egg whites and one whole egg, two teaspoons of vanilla and one tablespoon to one and a half of cocoa for that extra chocolate taste. Eight crumpets are then soaked in the mixture for a minimum of five minutes before being placed in a baking dish. It is then topped with raspberries and blueberries (frozen is okay) and placed in a 350 F oven for 20-25 minutes. While it is baking, I will start on the butterscotch quince sauce.
First, rinse and then core the quince. The peels can be left on. They are chopped into smaller, bite-sized pieces and then placed in a saucepan with some pineapple juice and boiled until softened. While boiling, the butterscotch chips are dissolved in a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water and set aside. Once the crumpet French toast is done, it is taken out of the oven, with two pieces placed on each plate. The crumpets and berries are then topped with the quince and then drizzled with butterscotch. Voila! Christmas morning brunch! Actually, this can be served any time of year, either at brunch or as a dessert. 🙂
Ingredients in other rounds of the third episode included poussin (Cornish hen), boar sausage and kale chips.
Image credit: Melica /Shutterstock
