Orange Mousse and Milk Bread

This is a heavenly dessert. Easy to prepare, relatively low in calories, unusual, all of that, and you can put it in pretty glassware, too!

I found this recipe in Bon Appetit's Too Busy to Cook? cookbook, purchased in 1984 for the princely sum of $24.85 including shipping (my receipt is in the book, strangely enough). Today, that's not so much money. 23 years ago? A stiff price for a book.

This will definately be appearing on my Thanksgiving dessert buffet. I'll only make one batch, because likely not more than 3 people will want it, but I'm one of those 3. Have everything lined up next to the blender, because this goes really fast.

ORANGE MOUSSE

2/3 cups boiling water
2 envelopes unflavored gelatin

Whirl on high speed for 30 seconds. Never turn off blender. Add:

1/2 cup sugar

Whirl 10 seconds. Add:

6 ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, partially thawed
2 tbsp whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups ice

Whirl about 30 seconds, until the ice is crushed and evenly distributed. It will make so much racket that the rest of the family will accuse you of taking a sledgehammer to the kitchen wall.

Pour into 6 to 8 dessert dishes. My preference is cheap cut glass stemware. Looks great, and if the little guy breaks a glass, so what.

This recipe comes from Beth Hensperger's Bread Machine Cookbook, which contains 600 of her favorite recipes. Now, I don't know how anyone can have 600 favorite breads, but to each her own!

MILK BREAD

1-1/2 cups whole milk
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
6 tsp yeast
Let this mix in the bread machine, or stir by hand/in the mixer for about 10 minutes, until well blended. Let rise for 10 minutes, split into 2 loaf pans, let rise until doubled in size, then bake at 375 for 25 minutes. The milk gives the bread a relatively darker crust, and great flavor. Wonderful for toast, too. This picture of the slices is more yellow than the bread came out; I think maybe my flash didn't go off.