Posted by Jo Dell on November 07, 2001 at 20:49:42:
Spring Fruit Charlotte (featured in Pampered Chef catalog)
Base:
1 lemon
3 cans (15.25 oz ea) sliced peaches, drained
1 pint blueberries
1 can (21 ounces) cherry pie filling
½ tsp cinnamon
Topping:
1 package (3 oz) cook and serve vanilla pudding and pie filling (not
instant)
1 cup milk
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla
1 egg
16 slices firm while bread
powdered sugar
vanilla ice cream (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 400 . Zest whole lemon and set aside. Juice lemon to measure 1 tablespoon juice. In 2-qt bowl combine peaches, blueberries, pie filling, lemon juice and cinnamon; mix gently. Reserve 1 cup of the fruit mixture. Pour remaining fruit mixture into 8-cup oval baking dish, mounding slightly in center.
2. In 1-qt bowl, whisk together pudding mix, milk, cinnamon, vanilla, and egg. Cut crusts off bread. Dip each bread slice into egg mixture to coat lightly; arrange in overlapping circular pattern on top of fruit. Put the slices close to the edge of the pan, leaving center open.
3. Pour any remaining egg mixture over bread. Spoon reserved fruit mixture into opening.
4. Bake 25-30 minutes or until edges of bread are deep golden brown. Remove from oven to rack to cool. Let stand 10 minutes; sprinkle with powdered sugar sifter and sprinkle reserved lemon zest over top. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.
Yield: 8 servings
FYI: This dessert is great and is not overly sweet. It could also be served for a special brunch or breakfast, because in reality it is french toast atop fruit. I made it in a LB pie pan and only used 2 cans of peaches and only needed 8 slices of bread, as I use Brownberry Buttermilk bread, which are wide slices. Without too much trouble you could put this together at a kitchen theme show using the batter bowl, mixing bowls, pie pan or other baking dishes. Experiment at home to see which size works best for you. I wish I had mastered my scanner and could scan in the picture. This is really an impressive dessert and would be great for the young cook to take to the family gathering to impress the socks off everyone. Perhaps a way to hook a pottery customer. You could also cut out the bread with a star-shaped cookie cutter or other holiday shape. There are canned spiced peaches available (Del Monte, I think) which makes it even spicier. I have given the recipe in 1-4 as PC lists it, minus the referenced tools. You can adjust to your individual likes; can decrease peaches and use 1 finely diced apple. Enjoy! Jo Dell