Pumpkin Bread Pudding

The first time I made this recipe I thought I was in heaven. I love this time of year because of all the yummy pumpkin infused goodness that comes with it, and this recipe is definitely one of those your family will look forward to each year.

Ingredients:
1 1 to 1 1/4 lb pumpkin
3 1/4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups eggnog
5 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup golden raisins
8 cups french bread cut up into 1" cubes
Warm Caramel Sauce (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350*.
Cut pumpkin into quarters, cleaning out seeds and strings.
Place pumpkin, cut-side down, on a lightly greased baking pan. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until almost tender.
Remove peel, cut baked pumpkin into 3/4" cubes.
In a large bowl, stir together milk, eggnog, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and spice. Sprinkle raisins on the bottom of an ungreased 3 quart rectangular baking dish.
Spread bread over raisins.
Pour egg/milk mixture over the bread. Let it sit for 5 minutes, letting the bread saturate slightly.
Carefully stir in the cubed pumpkin.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the pudding is puffy and a toothpick comes out of the center cleanly.
Cool pudding slightly (it will fall in the center, that's okay!) and then drizzle with warm caramel sauce.

Warm Caramel Sauce:
In a saucepan, melt 10 caramel squares with 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.
Stir in 1/4 tsp crushed anise seed and 1/4 tsp rum flavoring.
Cool slightly before pouring over pudding.

French Toast Bread Pudding Recipe

I've been craving bread pudding lately, and my son has been on a breakfast all day long kick (I swear, the kid goes thru a box of waffles a day!).  So, when I recently bought a box of Farm Rich Cinnamon French Tast Sticks at Sam's Club, it had this recipe on the side.  So I tried it out (with a few modifications of course) and man is it yummy.  In fact,my husband described it tasting like "cinnamon raisin french toast and apple pie had a love child". So here you go (and warning, it is best if you prep it the night before, which actually makes breakfast easy...just pop in the oven and eat!).

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar (not packed)
1 16ox box Farm Rich Cinnamon French Toast Sticks
1 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup raisins
1 apple diced


Cut the toast sticks into 1 inch pieces.
Layer the bottom of a 9" x 13" baking pan with brown sugar
Sprinkle raisins and apples over the brown sugar
Lay the toast sticks onto the sugar (cinnamon sugar side up)in a single layer.  Press any extra pieces into the sides and corners, filling any gaps.
In a large bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, eggs, vanilla, salt, and water.
Pour mixture over the toast sticks, pressing them down to wet them thoroughly.
Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350*
Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Raise temperature on your oven to broil and cook an additional 2-3 minutes to carmelize the sugar.
Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes.
Invert onto a serving plate and dig in!