pumpkin bread pudding

This week for Slow Cooker Sunday I am bringing you something different… Dessert. Most people don’t think of making dessert in their slow cooker. I know I usually don’t. I tried making brownies once and it was a complete mess. Thankfully I had lined the insert of my slow cooker with aluminum foil so the clean-up wasn’t that bad. Thankfully this week’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding wasn’t a total mess and gave me hope that dessert is possible in a slow cooker. With Thanksgiving coming up this week this may be a good alternative to the customary pumpkin pie or a good addition to your dessert table.

First though let me introduce you to the newest addition to my kitchen… A smaller slow cooker. The slow cooker I normally use is 5 1/2 – quart and while it is a great size, I have a wonderful slow cooker cookbook with amazing recipes that call for a smaller one. Hence this 4 – quart one.

Now back to the recipe… To begin I cubed a small French baguette and set it aside.

Then in a large mixing bowl I combined eggs, granulated and brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger and beat them until smooth.

To that mixture I added pumpkin, milk, evaporated milk and vanilla extract and beat it until it was well blended.

Before adding anything to the slow cooker I generously greased it with butter.

Once I had done that, I placed half of the bread in the bottom of the slow cooker and drizzled it with 2 tablespoons of melted better. Next I poured half of the pumpkin mixture over it and topped it with 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. I repeated the layers…

Then covered the slow cooker and set it to cook on high for 2 hours.

After some careful inverting I transferred the bread pudding to a platter. Now, you could just serve it from the slow cooker – especially if you are serving it to a large crowd – but, if you choose to transfer it don’t make the same mistake I did. Let it cool for a few minutes before trying to flip it. I did it a little too soon after it was done and part of it fell apart. I will say that this definitely doesn’t look like your traditional bread pudding; it sort of reminded me of Monkey Pull Apart Bread. Regardless it was tasty although it didn’t have a strong pumpkin flavor. So it would be ideal for those who like pumpkin but don’t love it!

Servings: 6-8
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Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup milk

1 (14-ounce) can evaporated milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons butter, melted, plus more for greasing slow cooker

1 small French baguette, cubed

1 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

In a medium bowl combine the eggs, sugars, cinnamon and ginger and mix well with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin, milks and vanilla and continue beating until blended.

Generously butter the slow cooker insert and cover the bottom with half of the cubed bread and drizzle with melted butter. Pour half of the pumpkin mixture over it and top with half of the pecans. Repeat the layers.

Cover the slow cooker and cook on high for 2 hours until set and puffed. Best served warm.

From the book The $7 a Meal Slow Cooker Cookbook

After buying one too many cans of Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin I decided it was time to try out some different recipes other than the tried and true pumpkin pie – I’m saving that for Thanksgiving. While flipping through the newspaper recently I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding. It’s funny, as a child I couldn’t stand bread pudding but as I got older I acquired a taste for it. It could be because those that I do like aren’t made with traditional white bread but with Panettone, Croissants and so forth.

First things first, I got all of my ingredients together.

I then started cutting the bread into cubes – while the recipe did call for white bread I decided to switch it up a little and use cinnamon bread instead. After cutting up a little more than 4 cups of bread I toasted it in the oven for about 15 minutes. One immediate perk of using cinnamon bread was the aroma it filled my house with while it was toasting.

Following that I placed the cubes into my prepared baking dish.

While the bread was in the oven I whisked together all of my remaining ingredients that would compose the custard for the pudding.

Once all of the ingredients were mixed together well I poured it over the bread cubes.

After letting the mixture sit for ten minutes to allow the pudding to soak into the bread I cut pieces of cold butter and dropped them on top.

After baking for about 45 minutes my bread pudding was ready!

While it did taste good I was hoping for more of a pumpkin taste. Maybe I should have used the entire can of pumpkin instead of the 3/4 cup the recipe called for, then I wouldn’t have the dilemma of now finding a recipe that will only use this 1 cup of pumpkin I have sitting in my fridge.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Courtesy Domino Sugar

4 Cups White Bread, Cut Into Cubes

4 Eggs

3 Egg Yolks

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1 1/2 Cups Heavy Cream

3/4 Cup Canned Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup Domino Granulated Sugar

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Rum or Brandy

1/4 Tsp Nutmeg

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Tsp Cloves, ground

2 Tbsp Butter, cold, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Dry bread cubes on cookie sheet in oven 10 to 15 minutes. Place bread cubes in pan. In large mixing bowl, whisk together all pudding ingredients except butter. Pour mixture over bread cubes. Let sit 10 minutes until bread is fully soaked. Dab butter over top. Bake 40 to 50 minutes. (Pudding should set in center, but not dry).