This is not a Christmas Cranberry Cheese Log.

BY LOIS DESOCIO

… Wait. Cheese logs are so last year.

On December 27, 2012, I was in the midst of writing about how that “round of goat cheese encased in smooshed cranberries – a Yule Log,” tastes better than it looks.

How, I put it out year after year, and “I usually wind up being the only one eating it.” And, how much of my cooking on December 26 and December 27 usually has that leftover log in it.

“Green beans. And sherry. And cheese log! Oh my!!”

I nixed the article – no one cares about cheese logs. (Unlike cheese balls – which, perplexingly, remain beloved.)

So this year, I did not say cheese when I shopped for my Christmas-Day feast. A first. My cheese-obsession (and all that you can do with a leftover log of it), was usurped by my newfound, and really old, pressure cooker, and all that you can do with it.

But the Apple Bread Pudding with Cranberries that I got from the Fissler Pressure Cooker lady in Williams Sonoma recently, became my 2013 cheese log – it was mostly passed-up and, therefore, left-over.

C’mon, people – it’s not a fruitcake.

But a concoction that is binded by apples, oranges, cranberries and eggs. And then encased and interwoven throughout with white bread, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and cream – all pressured and steamed into a puddingy bliss – yields a perfect foil for a second go-round. Especially if you leave it out on the counter for a day. (I did for two.)

Here goes:

Take a section of the pudding, and shape it into a small log for two:

Fry up two to four pieces of good-quality pancetta:

Drain, set side. Then sauté only the flat sides of the pudding in the pancetta grease, on low, until browned, and warm in the middle. Be careful – you don’t want hard, crunchy, pudding (yet):

Cut pancetta, while still warm, into strips, and make a lattice around the sautéed pudding. Drizzle with honey, and top with Marcona almonds:

Serve with Prosecco or Champagne. It’s especially delicious with a Mimosa.
Just hold the cheese.