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Pumpkin bread pudding with maple caramel sauce

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

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The best Pumpkin Bread Pudding recipe! This dessert has perfect richness & texture, with a blend of buttery croissants, bread and pumpkin custard. Top it with Maple Caramel Sauce for a lusciously decadent treat. It is so easy to make and perfect for a cozy fall day!

  • Total Time: 75 min + 1 hour of chill time

Ingredients

Scale

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

  • 5 c of torn up croissant pieces (stale or baked, see notes)
  • 5 c of cubed bread (stale or baked, see notes)
  • ½ c granulated sugar
  • 1 c light brown sugar
  • 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon (I prefer Ceylon Cinnamon)
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cardamom (optional)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 15 oz pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
  • 1 ½ c whole milk
  • 2 c heavy cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

Maple Caramel Sauce

  • ½ c butter (salted or unsalted works)
  • ½ c pure maple syrup
  • ½ c light brown sugar
  • ½ c heavy cream
  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For the Bread Pudding

  1. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray, or lightly grease it with butter.
  2. Place croissants and bread into the pan, ensuring there is equal distribution; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugars, spices & salt until combined. Add the pumpkin and whisk until incorporated.
  4.  Add the milk and cream to the sugar/pumpkin mixture. Slowly and carefully whisk it in as it has a tendency to splatter!
  5. Whisk in the eggs until combined and then stir in the vanilla.
  6. Give the mixture one final stir with a spatula, moving it along the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are fully incorporated.
  7. Pour the custard into the baking dish, over the bread pieces.
  8. Using your spatula, gently squish down the bread until each piece is covered or at least soaked with the custard (any dry bits will burn in the oven).
  9. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
  10. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  11. Bake uncovered for 40-50 minutes until browned and fully set. If it browns too quickly, you can tent some aluminum foil on the top during the final stretch of baking. Insert a knife and if it comes out clean (wetness is still OK), it's done.
  12. Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool. This can be served warm or chilled.
  13. While bread pudding cools, prepare the Maple Caramel sauce.

For the Maple Caramel Sauce

  1. In a medium sauce pan over low/medium heat, add the butter, syrup, sugar and cream. Bring to a medium boil and cook, stirring frequently for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
  2. Store any leftover caramel sauce in the fridge and reheat as needed.

Equipment

Notes

Recipe by Owlbbaking.com

For the croissants & bread- tear into small pieces.

I have 2 tricks to share with you to essentially ‘skip’ waiting for bread to get stale.

#1- Lay out the pieces on a baking sheet. Let the bread & croissants sit out on the counter for 6 hours or so, to dry up. This technique works well if you have some time to spare.

#2 -If you are short on time, you can cube up the bread & croissant pieces and bake it off at 300° until dry and toasted, about 20-30 minutes. Be sure to toss pieces around halfway through baking. Allow to cool before using in recipe.

Store leftover bread pudding in the fridge.

Find it online: https://owlbbaking.com/pumpkin-bread-pudding/