Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

 

I stopped making the traditional thanksgiving pumpkin pies on Thanksgiving a few years ago. They just got too boring and you can only do so much to a pie to change it up.  I wanted something that when I told my guests to save room for dessert, they really would save room.  They know now that I am going to bring out my warm pumpkin bread pudding covered in delicious hot caramel sauce and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

1 loaf day old Challah Bread (or French or Italian), torn into pieces

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup half and half

1 15-ounce pumpkin puree

1-1/2 cups sugar

3 tablespoons butter, melted

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (or see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Place bread pieces in baking dish and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, half and half, pumpkin, sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice.  If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own. You can find the recipe below.

Slowly pour the custard batter over the bread pieces in the baking dish. Push bread down into the sauce to make sure it is completely covered.  Allow to sit and soak up the sauce for about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350 for about 1 hour.  While the bread pudding is baking, make the sauce unless you are going to use a jar of store bought.

Caramel Sauce (or use Caramel Ice Cream Topping or sauce)

1 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup brown sugar, packed

In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, stir together the butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar; bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer until the sauce thickens, for about 5 minutes; pour over bread pudding before serving. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for a real treat!

NOTE:   You can make your own Pumpkin Pie Spice with the following:

2 teaspoons cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon allspice

Combine and store in airtight container.

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