I’ve been digging through all the pumpkin dessert recipes out there so you don’t have to! This is the second in my series of posts about pumpkin desserts, the first being about pumpkin cheesecake. In this installment, I want to turn my attention to one of my favorite desserts of all time (whether or not it’s made with pumpkin): bread pudding.
I love, love, love, love, love bread pudding. There is something so rustic and soul-warming about it. It’s the perfect texture due to the combination of bread and custard. Aside from that, it’s incredibly versatile. If you’re a chocoholic you can add chocolate chips, chunks, or sauce. If you love fruit, you can add just about any type of berry, bananas, apples, or anything else. Of course, if you just like bread pudding, there’s the great standby recipe.
This post, however, is dedicated to pumpkin bread pudding, a great option for your Thanksgiving feast. The recipe that I’ve used is this one from the Inn at Sandwich Center: pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. The thing that I really love about this recipe is that there isn’t too much sugar in it. In fact, it’s surprisingly not sweet, which is why you have to drench it with caramel sauce. It’s nice, though, that everyone can control how sweet they would like their portion to be. Make sure you don’t forget the caramel sauce though, because as I implied, the pudding itself isn’t quite sweet enough. Honestly, you can just buy a jar of caramel sauce. If you’re embarrassed, pour it into a sauce pan to heat and serve, no one will ever know.
Epicurious has a competing recipe for pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. It doesn’t seem like there are enough eggs to make a really luxurious custard though. I do, however, have to admit that it seems a whole lot easier than the Sandwich Inn’s recipe.
This recipe is pretty unique because instead of adding a pumpkin custard to leftover bread, it adds custard to pumpkin-cranberry bread. Of course that creates a whole other step of having to bake the pumpkin bread itself, but it’s definitely a unique take on the dish, and it has me curious. If you’re curious too, check out pumpkin bread pudding with cranberry caramel sauce.
OK, so it’s not bread pudding, but this recipe for pumpkin ginger rice pudding looks fantastic. If you’re being ambitious, I would recommend giving it a look. It calls for fresh pumpkin (or butternut squash), so it’s probably a little too involved for me. I’m perfectly happy to open a can of pumpkin, thank you very much.
This recipe for pumpkin ginger bread pudding has all the same great flavors as the rice pudding, but it too expects you to cook your own pumpkin. I do love Anne Burrell, though, so I’ll give her a pass.
Are you as big a fan of bread pudding as I am? Will you be serving some pumpkin bread pudding at your Thanksgiving this year?
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Nov 18, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
