Father's Choice: Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Rum Pecan Drizzle

A couple of years ago I was out in Phoenix for a conference and I had dinner at a Spanish-influenced restaurant and had the most amazing pumpkin bread pudding for dessert.  Ever since then I've been talking about it and swearing that I was going to try to come up with my own version of it.  So for Father's Day, Guinea Pig Dad asked me to make it for him and the results are in with an enthusiastic two forks up!

The best part of today's post is that both the pumpkin bread and the rum pecan drizzle make great stand-alone items, but together...happy sigh...dessert nivana.

Since bread pudding was basically a recipe developed as a use for day-old and/or stale bread, you'll want to make the pumpkin bread a day or two ahead of time, cube it, and let it sit out to get it ready for its special presentation.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Rum Pecan Sauce

pumpkin bread
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 cups sugar
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
4 large eggs
1 cup veggie oil
1/2 cup water

In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, blend the sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water until well mixed.

Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture until its all blended into a smooth, slightly runny batter.

Grease flour and line three bread pans.  Or one bread pan and one 8x8 baking pan if you only have one bread pan on hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Set the pans on rack to cool.

When the pumpkin bread is completely cooled.  Remove from pans and cut two of the loaves (or the one 8x8 bread) into bite-sized chunks.  Handle carefully because it may tend to crumble a bit and you need solid pieces for the bread pudding.

Because the recipe I used made three loaves and you only need two for the bread pudding, you can enjoy the third on its own, wrap it and save it in the freeze to enjoy later, or take it into the office to placate your co-workers who recently commented on how you haven't brought any pumpkin cupcakes in to share lately (and you know who you are). :)

bread pudding
2 cups milk
4 tbsp butter
4 eggs, beaten, room temp

In a saucepan, bring your butter and milk to a light scald over low heat.  So basically, not boiling, but hot enough that the butter melts into the milk.

Whisk in the beaten eggs until well blended and remove from heat.

Fill a 9x13 baking dish with the pumpkin bread pieces and pour the custard mix over the bread.

The liquid will settle on the bottom, so take a spatula and gently flip all the bread pieces in the pan to make sure that they all get well-coated.

Put pan in oven and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes to set.

rum pecan drizzle
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
2/3 cup light corn syrup
4 tbsp butter
1 tsbp dark rum
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecans, rough chopped

In a deep saucepan, bring water to a boil.  Add in brown sugar until dissolved, then add in corn starch.

Bring to a boil for 30-45 seconds, then remove from heat.

Add in butter, rum, and vanilla then pecans and stir well until pecans are coated.  The sauce will thicken up slightly as it stands, but will still be fairly thin and runny.

Serve up slices of the pumpkin bread pudding and drizzle mixture on top.

NOTES

This dessert would go nicely with a scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream on the side.

If you prefer a less boozy topping, omit the rum and serve as is.

Because I used a quick bread for my base, the bread pudding is not going to be as firm as it would if you had started with a yeast bread or danishes which are not as crumbly to begin with.