This pumpkin bread pudding may be just make you leave that classic pumpkin pie behind this year. It has all that pumpkin flavor and spice you love, but in a much more decadent and unique form.
I served this for Thanksgiving a few years ago and, aside from poor time management on my part (I’m pretty sure we didn’t eat it until 9 pm), everyone was fawning over it. I always seem to underestimate the time à la minute desserts (aka desserts you need to bake and serve warm) will take-but they’re usually amazingly delicious and impressive so I haven’t given up on them yet. Plus who cares if you eat dessert late? It gives you a chance to digest the rest of your meal and EAT MORE.
This is a great recipe for entertaining because you can make parts of it well ahead and it makes great leftovers. All the better to send your guests home with some deliciousness to remind them of how great a hostess you are the next day!
The recipe gets a double hit of pumpkin and warm spices because the bread base is a pumpkin bread (versus traditional white or enriched bread like challah), plus pumpkin custard to envelope the bread. Also, the pumpkin bread is so delicious that it could become your go-to recipe to make just for snacking. Make the pumpkin bread at least a day ahead so it has time to dry out-even better to make it far in advance, cube it and throw it in the freezer. You’ll be drying it out slightly in the oven before assembling the bread pudding, so it will be the perfect texture to absorb the custard either way. You can make the pumpkin custard and soak the bread cubes a little in advance, so the only thing you really need to do is put together your water bath and bake the bread pudding.
The crème anglaise is the perfect creamy accompaniment to the bread pudding (and many other desserts). Once you have the technique down, you’ll find ways to incorporate it into lots of desserts, I promise. You can (and should) also make this ahead. Drizzle with caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought, whatever tickles your fancy) and game over.
(Also, do you know how hard it is to get the perfect streaming drizzle with one hand and take a picture with a big, wieldy camera in the other? See above.)
This is best served warm-or warmed up in the microwave for leftovers. I promise, this will be the star of the dessert table this holiday (you guys do have dessert tables at your Thanksgiving, right?)!
[tasty-recipe id=”34264″]
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