This Bread Pudding With Pumpkin Pecan Praline Sauce starts with a classic southern dessert. The warm sauce adds a festive touch when you're in the mood for it. Not a fan of pumpkin? You can omit it and the spices for a simple pecan praline indulgence.
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Creating A Classic
Bread Pudding is a dish of many cultures, so no one gets full credit for its creation. It seems that someone came up with a simple way to use their leftover stale bread for a sweet indulgence. This made less waste of their sustenance, BREAD, which took precious time and energy to produce.
I confess I did not like bread pudding when I was a child. Somehow leftover bread made into a pudding did not make sense to me. I didn't see anything that looked like pudding in there, anyway. I later discovered how much I'd missed out on.
Today, bread pudding is our dessert of choice when my husband and I are out for dinner. He's the one that finally won me over to that luscious indulgence of leftover bread cooked in custard.
The best thing about baking bread pudding is that it's easy to assemble with simple ingredients in most kitchens. This recipe is as basic as it gets yielding a deliciously moist texture.
Some prefer eating it like cereal by adding milk. Others like it plain or topped with meringue, ice cream, whipped cream, fresh fruit, or powdered sugar. I like mine with a sweet sauce like this pumpkin pecan praline one.
Making Bread Pudding With Pumpkin Praline Sauce
To me, bread Pudding drizzled with this warmly spiced sauce is a sensible dessert since I usually have the ingredients on hand when the desire for one strikes. It starts with a loaf of French bread; fresh or day-old, it doesn't matter.
The bread needs to soak for about 10 minutes in milk. Then eggs and sugar are added to bind it all together as it bakes with the spices. Take time to bask in that yummy smell coming from the oven!
And while it's baking, save time by putting the sauce together. Boil the cream and sugar until it begins to brown.
Then turn the heat off and stir in the canned pumpkin, flavorings, and chopped pecans to make a luscious drizzle.
The finale is to pour the sauce over the bread pudding after it's primitively spooned or politely sliced onto a plate to enjoy.
See how easy and ingenious this recipe is!
Have It Your Way
If you're not in the mood for pumpkin or just don't care for it, simply omit the canned squash and the spices. Make the basic sauce with the cream and sugar, but add the vanilla and pecans for that southern pecan praline flavor.
Or, use this basic bread pudding recipe with your own favorite topping or no topping at all. It's all good!
A NOTE FOR YOU This generous recipe can be divided into two containers, one to keep and one to share. It also freezes well for a later date, but freeze the sauce separately, then warm both and drizzle with sauce when ready to serve.
More Pumpkin Recipes
- 2-Ingredient Pumpkin Cake With Brown Sugar Glaze
- Soft Moist Pumpkin Bread
- Pumpkin Spice Mix
- Pumpkin Muffins With Streusel
- Pumpkin Bars
- Pumpkin Cheesecake With Pecan Streusel
Recipe
Bread Pudding With Pumpkin Pecan Praline Sauce
The warm Pumpkin Pecan Praline Sauce spooned over this classic bread pudding adds a festive touch for fall or any time of year.
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Ingredients
Bread Pudding
- 16 ounces of fresh or day-old French bread, cubed
- 4 cups milk
- 1 12-ounce can of evaporated milk
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Pumpkin Pecan Praline Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup whipping cream
- ¾ cup pureed or canned pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- pinch of salt
Instructions
For Bread Pudding
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place bread cubes in a large bowl.
Pour milk and evaporated milk over bread and soak for 10 minutes.
Add melted butter into a 9x13 baking pan and coat the bottom and sides.
Mix sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a small bowl.
Beat eggs well with a fork in a medium bowl.
Stir sugar mixture, vanilla, and salt into beaten eggs to blend well to form a custard.
Pour custard into bread and milk and mix with a spoon; you may use your hands.
Spoon mixture into a buttered dish and bake for an hour.
Serve at any preferred temperature; hot, room temperature, or cold.
For Sauce
Place sugar and cream in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil while stirring over medium-high heat.
Lower heat a little and continue stirring frequently.
Slow boil for 8 minutes or until sauce begins to brown.
Remove from heat and stir in pumpkin, vanilla, pumpkin spice, pecans, and salt.
Spoon warm sauce over bread pudding.
Notes
You may adjust the time to bake according to your oven and your preference of how brown and crusty you want your bread pudding to be; the longer it bakes, the dryer it becomes.
The sauce can be poured onto the baked bread pudding all at once or spooned over individual pieces on a serving plate.
Make the basic sauce with the cream and sugar, and add the vanilla and pecans for that southern pecan praline flavor; double the ingredients for more sauce.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Category: Sweets, desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: bread pudding with pumpkin, pumpkin pecan praline sauce, bread pudding
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