Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays. Admittedly, we've grown a bit selfish with our day - my husband and I choose to spend it with just ourselves and our four bambino's. Our schedules are incredibly full and often we meet each other coming and going while doing the baseball-ballet-shuffle. I wouldn't have it any other way. When Thanksgiving Day rolls around we look forward to taking an entire day to veg-out. Eat, Pray, Love - literally. We enjoy the day with our kiddo's, good food, a good long nap, and lots of fireside snuggles with our favorite movies. It's so very restful and rejuvenating. 

Of course, any Thanksgiving table would be remiss without a pumpkin dish in some form. We're changing things up this year by adding pumpkin bread pudding to the dessert menu. 

First take 1 cup of raisins and soak them for about 20 minutes in 2/3 cup of bourbon. If bourbon is not your thing, you can easily substitute 2/3 cup hot water. 

While your raisins are soaking, butter and 8x8 pan and sprinkle with 6 tablespoons of brown sugar. I'll admit, I took this photo and then realized I didn't butter the pan first. I'm not perfect…

Cube a loaf of a very dense italian bread, about 12 oz -  most loaves are 16-24 oz, so you won't need the entire loaf. It works best if you leave the bread overnight to dry out. A good dry bread will hold the batter well.

Mix together: 15oz. of pumpkin puree, 4 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cups half and half, 2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. allspice.

Stir the bread cubes into the pumpkin mixture…

Drain the raisins and add to the batter, then pour into your prepared pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes until the top is golden brown and the custard is set.

Dish up for your loved ones and give thanks!! Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

6 Tbs. brown sugar
1 cup rasisins
2/3 cup bourbon or hot water
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cup half and half
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
12 oz. dry dense italian bread or challah, cubed

Butter an 8x8 pan and sprinkle with brown sugar. Set aside. Pour bourbon over raisins; set aside. Combine pumpkin, sugar, eggs, spices and vanilla - mis well. Stir in cubed bread and mix to combine. Drain raisins and fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degree for 45-60 minutes until custard is set and the top is browned. Enjoy!

Business in the Front, Party in the Back

When my husband is traveling out of town, I often do something fun or out of the ordinary with my kiddo's. It helps take their minds off the absence of their very hands-on father. So while he was recently in Colorado, we continued on our pumpkin binge and decided to have a lazy day making pumpkin-chocolate-chip pancakes...in our pajamas...at 10 a.m. They especially loved the "hidden" chocolate chips in the back. We are all about surprises here. We skipped the regular all-purpose flour and went with oat flour instead. I was having a white-flour-free moment...not to be confused with my gluten-free moments or egg-free moments. What can I say? I have a few moments now and then. I am happy with how the pancakes turned out - nice and moist even with the oat flour. I haven't tried the recipe substituting all-purpose flour, but I am fairly sure it will still turn out just as well.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups oat flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. allspice

mini chocolate chips

Preheat a skillet or griddle to 400 degrees. Combine eggs, buttermilk, butter, pumpkin, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl - when it comes to pancakes, I usually skip my big kitchen-aid mixer and do everything in a large bowl with a whisk...it's an old habit and as we all know, those die hard. Whisk ingredients together until combined. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and allspice.  Mix the dry into the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter onto the griddle to form 5-inch circles. After the batter begins to bubble, sprinkle on the chocolate chips...

When your edges begin to dry, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides. Keep pancakes in a warm oven until ready to serve.

Hello Fall

Fall is finally here and with it comes a renewed joy of baking. The hot oven no longer brings beads of sweat along my forehead, but comfort and joy like a warm blanket around my shoulders. I love being in the kitchen, but loathe becoming drenched in sweat from a heavy work week. Fall and winter bring relief from the negative side of food business and I have been busy relishing each cool breeze through my kitchen window. This is the first post of several "batter-licious" recipes I've been making of late. I hope you enjoy them all. 

Preparing this particular recipe was a learning experience. Not because the recipe is difficult - it isn't. Not because the ingredients were difficult to find - they weren't. Simply because I realized that I have acquired a severe allergy to uncooked pumpkin containing pumpkin pulp. Did you know that one can be allergic to the seeds and pulp of pumpkin, but not the meat? This is certainly the case and extremely so in my situation and more disturbingly appears to be a recent development as I can't recall any reactions to pumpkin seeds or pulp in the past. Watermelon, yes. Bananas, for as long as I can remember, but not pumpkin. At any rate, I will tread carefully from this moment on when dealing with pumpkin. I was in the process of making this bread, batter prepared, in the pan and in the oven when I couldn't resist a quick lick of the spatula before washing the mixing bowl. What followed was unlike any allergic reaction I have had. First, you must understand the full picture. I was home with all four kiddo's by myself as my hubs was in Colorado attending a conference. I am still nursing my youngest which in and of itself is kin to a full time job. We had been decorating for Christmas, so the house was a bit messy from the fake pine needles and the dusty attic storage containers. I had been in major multi-tasking mode, feeling energized by the cooler weather and attempting a mad deep cleaning spree much  like a spring-clean-out-everything-and-reorganize-my-workspace-and-every-closet whirlwind when I was struck with the thought to make pumpkin bread as well. Then one lick of that raw batter and my energy spree came to a screeching halt. Within minutes the whelps began appearing, first on my arms, then on my neck, finally on my back, stomach and face, while watching my hands swell at an incredible rate. At first I thought my older children must have brought in poison ivy oil on their clothing after an afternoon rendezvous in the brush surrounding our yard, but quickly realized I was the only one affected and they were perfectly fine. The next several hours were difficult to say the least and ironically, the pumpkin bread was quite enjoyable though I had to wait until the next day to devour a slice as I was quickly reeled into bed by the aid of benadryl while covered in steroid cream. Alas, do not lick the batter, but do make the bread. I'm certain things like this only happen to me. Quite sure of it.

Pumpkin Bread

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)

3/4 cups vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, mix together pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, pecans, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour - the top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed. Butter a warm slice and enjoy!