Pumpkin Bread Pudding
This Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce is absolutely divine for breakfast, brunch, or dessert! Great for the holidays and potlucks. Make it completely the night before! (Don't ditch the caramel sauce.)
Servings: 16 servings
Ingredients
- 8 cups French loaf, cubed
- 2 cups half and half
- 15 ounce pure pumpkin
- 1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup dried cranberries, optional
- ¼ cup toasted chopped pecans, optional
For the Caramel Sauce
- 1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup salted butter
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream
- powdered sugar, optional, for garnish
Instructions
For Bread Pudding
- Preheat oven to 350°F, with rack on lower middle position. Lightly gerase a 9x11 glass baking dish. Set aside.
- Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend. Fold in bread cubes. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased 9x11 glass baking dish.
- Sprinkle cranberries and pecans over the top evenly, if using. Let stand at least 15 minutes to allow bread to soak.
- Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Let rest at room temperature until ready to serve - up to overnight, covered. Cover and chill if bread pudding will be sitting out longer than overnight.
For the Caramel Sauce
- Whisk brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes. Pour warm sauce over warm bread pudding. Serve warm.
Notes
- Pumpkin Bread Pudding is a great way to use up stale bread. However, if your bread is very fresh, you can cube it and let it sit out for a few hours to dry. This will help the bread soak up the pumpkin custard better.
- Caramel sauce can also be made the night before, but will need to be re-heated before drizzling onto the bread pudding.
- Feel free to substitute cranberries and pecans with any other add-ins. Alternatives include chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or roasted pumpkin seeds.
- Also try serving this with homemade apple butter, vanilla bean ice cream or stabilized whipped cream!
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 607kcal | Carbohydrates: 99g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 17g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 806mg | Potassium: 312mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 41g | Vitamin A: 4600IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 146mg | Iron: 6mg