A tasty cranberry & chestnut brioche recipe.

I have to admit; brioche isn't a word I use often! 


Famous for ripping recipes out of magazines and never making them, I'm determined to change my image.  I'm not sure what attracted me to this one....the chestnuts?  The cranberries?  The muffin tin?  Whatever it was, I'm glad it caught my attention and happy that it was on the top of the stack of recipes in my kitchen that are awaiting their trial moment!

It may surprise you that this delicious recipe, and I do mean delicious; came out of a Family Circle Magazine from several years ago.  Attributed to chef Charlie Palmer, he calls them popovers.  I highly recommend that you try them for your holiday guests this season!

Begin by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees.  Cut 1 pound of day old brioche bread into 1/2 inch cubes.  The recipe calls for us to trim the crusts, however, you can tell from the photo that we chose to leave the crust intact.  I also used a loaf of french bread that I had instead of brioche.  As with any recipe you try for the first time, take notes!  Some substitutions will work better than others.

Combine 6 large eggs with a dash of salt, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon.

Add 3 cups of whipping cream.  Again I made a slight substitution....I only had 2 cups of whipping cream so I used 1 cup of heavy cream.

Add 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and bread cubes and mix thoroughly.  Let sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes in order to allow the bread to absorb the egg mixture.  I let mine sit for 30 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup of roasted chestnuts.  You can find my instructions for roasting chestnuts here.  Chopped walnuts may give you a similar nutty taste if you can't find chestnuts.  Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  Fill greased muffin tins with mixture and bake for 25 minutes.  I let mine bake until they were golden brown.

They smelled lovely when they came out of the oven!

We decided to add a small pat of butter.

I used a standard size muffin tin and the recipe yielded 16 popovers. 

We were in such a hurry to try them while they were hot that we didn't bother with a fancy table setting!  The mixture that I had left over stayed in the fridge until the following day when I baked them.  They were just as wonderful!  It was the perfect treat for a rainy day, while sitting in front of the wood stove.  Cozy!