Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was my Thanksgiving experiment recipe. Thanksgiving? Really, your still on Thanksgiving Molly?

Yes, I know it's Christmas time. But I just cannot get over how bomb this was. And besides, this would be absolutely perfect at any time of the season. I assure you.

If you don't feel like or have the time to make your own pumpkin bread you can buy some or substitute any day old bread you have on hand. But this was Thanksgiving and I was going all out. I made the pumpkin bread a day in advance, then cubed and toasted them for 15 min. I wanted to eat that bowl like it was popcorn.

But I resisted and began custard-ing. Like the pumpkin bread wasn't enough, I threw in the rest of the canned puree into the mix. Oooh yea.

Smush

Pour in the custard and let those cubes of pumpkiny goodness soak in even more pumpkiny goodness. We suffered some custard losses and I'm not going to lie, spilled some curses along with it.

 I added a sugar walnut streusel to top it off and it made for fantastic texture and crunch. Sorry though,  didn't get many spectacular pics of the whole finished product.

But I had some experimental eating to do.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

adapted from Epicurious

1 loaf or 8 cups 1/2 in-1in cubed pumpkin bread

1 1/2 cups milk(any fat content)

1 1/2 cups half-n-half

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp bourbon (I didn't have any on hand, but by all means add it if you do!)

Cinnamon Walnut Streusel

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice(optional)

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 flour

1/2 stick(1/4 cup) butter

For the Streusel:

Combine walnuts, spices, sugar, and flour into a small bowl. Using your hands, cut in butter till the mixture resembles course meal. Set aside.

For Pudding:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 10-in baking dish. Place cubed bread onto a baking sheet and toast for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Allow to cool.

In a medium sauce pan, combine milk, half-n-half, vanilla, and sugar and bring to a simmer. 

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, maple syrup, and pumpkin puree. Slowly whisk in hot milk mixture until well combined. Whisk in bourbon.

Put cubed bread and any crumbs into the greased baking dish. Gently pour the custard mixture over the bread. Press down on the bread with your (clean)hand to make sure every piece absorbs some of the liquid. Sprinkle on the walnut topping then cover with plastic wrap and let soak for at least 30 min(I made mine in the morning let it soak for up to 6 hours. Be sure to turn off your oven if your not using it for a while). 

Place baking dish into a 9x13 baking dish and put on the oven rack. Fill the larger one with hot water about half-way up the pudding dish and bake for about 1 hour, until slightly puffed and center wiggles a bit. Remove from the oven and the water bath. Allow to cool for at least 30 min.