... make a hearty Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate Chips out of it! :D I declare it one of my favourite recipes in this foodblog!!!

My first encounter with bread pudding was at Fullerton Hotel's chocolate buffet few years ago. (YES CHOCOLATE BUFFET LOL) I fell in love with it immediately, helping myself to portion after portion of bread pudding. I later baked one myself at home which was barely satisfying.. But there came my second baking encounter with it - the restaurant I previously worked at.

We served White chocolate bread pudding which was soooo good! BUT STILL, I liked the Fullerton's one more. The overall taste was balanced, it had the perfect amount of sweetness for me.

Today, I made my Apple Bread Pudding w Chocolate chips after studying many different recipes online that claimed to be make the "Best" bread pudding. I adapted the recipe from Food&Wine's Raisin-Studded Apple Bread Pudding. I was exceptionally sure to try it because in this recipe, the yolks and whites are whipped separately to their maximum volume.

Other recipes (including the one I used in my restaurant), only require the eggs to be whisked together without incorporating maximum amount of air into it, I felt that this is likely to be the lighter version of bread pudding I was looking for! Many people may enjoy the denser bread pudding, but definetely not me. I like them firm, yet soft like how a pudding is :) If you like this kind of bread pudding, try this recipe, I am very sure that you will like it. Serving them warm with a scoop of chocolate icecream would be a bonus!

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Fall marks the transition of Summer into Winter, usually the beginning of September to end of November in the Northern Hemisphere and the beginning of March to end of May in the Southern Hemisphere.

It is also a period of time in the year when daylight and nighttime become equal again in length after the long evenings and early mornings of Summer. While the grasses turn green to brown, the green leaves of lettuce also give way to the final maturing of the root vegetables and their much more densely-packed sugars and starches.

A season marked by increased cooling and drying, the extremely watery fruits of summer give way to the drier carrots, and potatoes, and seeds of all kinds. This also explains denser foods of the autumn harvest - the root vegetables as well as the dense above-ground squashes and gourds; and the dry, energy-rich nuts and seeds are all part of the fall's best food choices.

For the Chinese, Fall is when the Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake Festival) is celebrated while the Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated in the United States.

Being born in Singapore and having spent my entire childhood between (mainly) Singapore and Malaysia, I've got to really admit I'm simply clueless about the Temperate countries until I studied them in Geography later on. Even so, my geography textbook, apparently, does not elaborate on the harvest in these countries besides facts on climate & natural vegetation (which were purely forests and their adaptations).

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HELLOOOO AGAIN! :D I've got two great treats up,

Blueberry cheesecake with hazelnut crust

Pumpkin cheesecake with Marshmallow Sour Cream topping

I made both of them last week together (scroll down for more pictures). Lovely yeah? I've been really crazy over cheesecake ever since I baked my first one. I like how dense and neat they are! The blueberry cheesecake ones were great, but I reckon I'd put lesser almond extract next time because the almond taste is really empowering. I wonder if it has got to do with the brand I use..? 

I served this with some sliced apricot (bought from Fremantle market in Perth previously :D ) I got the pumpkin puree from Jason's Marketplace. Not sure if you can get the same brand from FairPrice or Cold Storage though. By the way, I did not use the Gingersnap cookies as the cheesecake base. I really cannot find them anywhere!!! Not even in Perth =\ I used Pumpkin oat cracker instead. Haha. (but I still believe Gingersnap cookies would be a better choice!)

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