I was rummaging through the fridge last week and found a rather unusual half-loaf of bread on one of the shelves. Spotting the Gardenia brand, I first assumed that it was the rather popular Black Forest loaf or, at the very least, the Choc-ripple/Mocha Marble twin-loaf. On closer inspection, however, I was pretty gobsmacked to see it was neither of these favorites. It was a totally new variant: butterscotch!
If that sounds completely bug-out mad to you, it gets a bit crazier. The bread is a tad yellowish, made so by the addition of caramel and brown sugar as opposed to the usual white. But while this gives the bread a lovely vanilla-ish aroma, it makes it just mildly sweet, not at all what I expected.
What does give this particular loaf serious sugar mileage are the little chunks of caramel candy scattered throughout the inside. As a result, each slice is dotted all over with pockets of buttery, sugary sweetness. Mercifully, toasting the bread actually doesn’t melt the candy enough to turn it soggy. Instead, it melts just enough to be sticky and unctuous and disturbingly moreish.
Gardenia’s butterscotch loaf would probably make a better tea-time bread rather than something you’d nosh on for breakfast.
However, when you’re being silly the way I’ve been these past couple of weeks, it works a treat at the start of the day when toasted, slathered with Nutella (or some lesser gianduia), and topped with sliced bananas. Nutty, sugary, fruity, seriously insane YUM.
Oh, just don’t forget the coffee… ;D
Midge in the Kitchen 