Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Pumpkin Bread Pudding is a toothsome and luscious dessert. I really like all the crispy, crunchy, crusty bread; in fact the crusty bread is what makes it truly delectable. Even though the recipe called for canned pumpkin, I used a fresh pumpkin since that's all I had in my pantry; but then I always have a pumpkin or a winter squash of one kind or another waiting in the wings :D. These wonderful veggies last for days or even weeks without getting spoiled.

I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen's pumpkin bread pudding; I really liked her lazy method :D. I have tweaked it to reduce the amount of fat and have included the vegan option! I also used fresh and whole dry spices; but dry and purchased ground spices may be used instead. Oh, and make sure you do use a crusty bread like Italian, french, or a baguette - preferably a day old; it will be lot easier to cut. Of course it does not mean you cannot use a fresh bread; as you would expect, I ended up using a fresh french bread. When using fresh bread, cut it into a few pieces and let it dry out a little by leaving it open to air-dry.

One 9x13 pan

Ingredients:

4 cups Pumpkin cubes
1 stick Unsalted Butter/Earth Balance (1/2 cup)
10 cups Crusty Bread
1 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Cornstarch
4 Tbsp Rice Flour
3 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, chopped
2 tsp ground Cinnamon
4 All Spice berries
5 whole Cloves
1/8th of a Whole Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups any Milk

Method:

Cook the pumpkin until soft; let cool.

Place sugar, salt, cornstarch, spices, etc. in the carafe of a blender; add about a cup of milk and process to liquidize everything.

Add the cooled pumpkin cubes and the rest of the milk a little at a time and process until pumpkin is pureed and well combined.

Start heating the oven to 350 degrees F; place a 9"x13" baking pan with the butter in it to melt and brown slightly. If using Earth Balance, just let it melt; do not brown.

Add the bread cubes to the melted fat and mix well.

Pour the pumpkin mixture evenly over the bread cubes making sure all the bread cubes get moistened.

Bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the top browns a little.

Remove from the oven and let cool a little.

Serve warm with Raisin Sauce and/or whipped cream/topping. Enjoy!!

2 comments:

tina said...

Periamma, Thanks for posting this recipe. I am trying it today!
Tina

Geetha said...

Hi Tina, I hope you like it :). Let me know.
By the way, Bonnie asked if she could use canned pumpkin and how much - you can use one and a half cups of solid pack canned pumpkin instead of the fresh.