Drunken Prunes Recipes

DRUNKEN PRUNE POUNDCAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees. Position rack in bottom third of the oven. Butter and flour a 9X3 inch tube pan, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
• In large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and soda. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars at medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Mix in the extracts and zests, and fold in the prunes.
• Bake for one hour, until the cake pulls away from the pan, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
• To Make Brandy Soaked Prunes.
• Empty a 16 ounce container of prunes into a clean, sealable glass jar and pour brandy over the top until it covers them by about an inch. Allow prunes to macerate at least one day before making cake. Kept in a cool, dark place, the prunes will keep for months.

BREAD PUDDING WITH DRUNKEN PRUNES

Steps:

• Place diced prunes in a small jar or bowl, pour Comfort ove rtop; let sit about 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350. Brush 2-quart baking dish with 1 T. melted butter, set aside.
• In a large bowl, drizzle remaining butter over bread cubes. Scatter cubes on a baking sheet and brown lightly in the preheating oven. Remove and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine milk, cream and vanilla. Add eggs, yolks, sugar and salt, whisking until smooth; set aside.
• Dump bread cubes into prepared baking dish. Remove prunes from liquor (or it might all have soaked in) and toss with cubes. Pour egg-mixture over top of cubes and prunes; cover.
• Place baking dish in a water bath (water should come 3/4 of the way up the sides of the dish), in the oven. Bake for one hour (or until "set").
• Remove dish from water bath, chill for two hours in refrigerator before unmolding from baking dish (or leave in the pan if you're not doing a fancy presentation).
• If you prefer to serve the pudding HOT, let it rest only until it is unpuffed--but do NOT unmold to serve.
• Serve with "butter-rum" sauce (1/2 cup each melted butter and powdered sugar with 3 T rum splashed in--heat briefly in the microwave) OR vanilla ice cream OR whipped cream.