I have never been a fan of bread pudding. It's an ugly food. My mother grew up on a sparse farm in Alabama during the Depression, and her evening meal often consisted of a hunk of corn bread in a glass of milk. I imagine after soaking for a bit, that must have looked like bread pudding.
But it's fall. The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and it's time for baking and pumpkins and lovely smells from the kitchen. Does this need to bake and stock up on provisions come from my ancient ancestors who hunted and gathered just to survive through the winter, like a bear fattening up before hibernating? I'm not sure, but it does seem that I am stocking up for a long, hard winter.
While at Williams-Sonoma the other day, I bought a mix for pumpkin cake. Everything from Williams-Sonoma, even their mixes, is trustworthy, so I baked it in a cake pan shaped to look like a sunflower, and I set it out on my best crystal plate. I must have baked it for too long, though, and it was nearly too dry to be edible, kind of like that old corn bread from my mother's childhood without the milk.
In order to salvage the thing, I cut it into cubes, dried it out a little, and used it to make pumpkin bread pudding. It is indeed ugly but very, very good. Here is the recipe from Gourmet magazine, so now you can fatten up before hibernation right along with me.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Makes 6 servings
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette (or dried up pumpkin cake you wouldn't feed to a dog)
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Whisk together cream, pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, and spices in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.
But it's fall. The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and it's time for baking and pumpkins and lovely smells from the kitchen. Does this need to bake and stock up on provisions come from my ancient ancestors who hunted and gathered just to survive through the winter, like a bear fattening up before hibernating? I'm not sure, but it does seem that I am stocking up for a long, hard winter.
While at Williams-Sonoma the other day, I bought a mix for pumpkin cake. Everything from Williams-Sonoma, even their mixes, is trustworthy, so I baked it in a cake pan shaped to look like a sunflower, and I set it out on my best crystal plate. I must have baked it for too long, though, and it was nearly too dry to be edible, kind of like that old corn bread from my mother's childhood without the milk.
In order to salvage the thing, I cut it into cubes, dried it out a little, and used it to make pumpkin bread pudding. It is indeed ugly but very, very good. Here is the recipe from Gourmet magazine, so now you can fatten up before hibernation right along with me.
Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Makes 6 servings
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette (or dried up pumpkin cake you wouldn't feed to a dog)
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.
Whisk together cream, pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, yolk, salt, and spices in a bowl.
Toss bread cubes with butter in another bowl, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to an ungreased 8-inch square baking dish and bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.
Comments
PF
I feel fatter just for reading the recipe. You food porn distributor, you! (see . . . not so sanitized; one needs only read between the lines)
Sounds interesting, if i ever get ove rthere i'll try all of these pumpkin things, if i made it over here they'd lock me up for mental instability and taking creative cooking too far.
Until I lived in the deep South, I never liked bread pudding. There, they make the most delicious, hit-you-over-the-head bourbon sauce (lots of bourbon, butter, bourbon, sugar, etc...) to go on top. Now that's living!
I think that might be an appropriate crowning touch to this recipe, as well.