Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

I didn't make pumpkin pie this year for Thanksgiving.  I like to try to shake up Thanksgiving every now and then.  However, I didn't want total anarchy to ensure so I made pumpkin bread pudding as a replacement.  I still had a lot of people who looked shocked when I told them I wasn't making a pumpkin pie, but the actual people at Thanksgiving were perfectly satisfied by this.

I enjoyed how easy it was to make.  Pumpkin pie filling is pretty straightforward but if you make the crust from scratch it become more difficult.  The bread pudding takes hardly any time and is much more difficult to mess-up.

Bread pudding is a dish like French Toast or Panzanella, which a recipes that use up stale, left over bread.  We, however, went out and bought really good challah specifically for this recipe.

One thing I don't like about bread pudding is it doesn't look all that elegant.  I'm the kind of person who likes to make everything extra fancy, although I don't like doing lots of work.  But this has caramel sauce so that really dresses it up a bit.

We actually didn't even have this on Thanksgiving.  My sister-in-law brought two amazing pecan pies (one regular and one chocolate-Bourbon) and everyone thought a third dessert would be excessive (crazy people, I know).  So we made it the next day instead and it was a hit. 

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

BREAD PUDDING
2 cups half and half
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 cups 1/2-inch cubes egg bread (about 10-ounces
1/2 cup golden raisins
CARAMEL SAUCE
1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup whipping cream

Powdered sugar

BREAD PUDDING
1. Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend.
2. Fold in bread cubes. Stir in golden raisins.
3. Transfer mixture to 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Let stand 15 minutes.
4. Bake in 350°F oven until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
CARAMEL SAUCE
1. Whisk brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. 2. Whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Sift powdered sugar over bread pudding. Serve warm with caramel sauce.

From Epicurious

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