Pumpkin Bread Pudding

This was awesome! I made this to use up some leftover pumpkin and french bread. Delicious!

3/4 of a loaf of stale french bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups if I was to make a guess)

4 eggs

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk (I used skim)

1 cup canned pumpkin (about half of a can)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch of salt

maple syrup (the real stuff only!), toasted pecans, and powdered sugar

1. Whisk together eggs, heavy cream, milk, pumpkin, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour over bread and let sit for at least an hour at room temp, stirring occasionally if able.

2. Preheat oven to 375. Pour bread mixture into a buttered square baking dish. Bake 45 minutes. The top pieces of bread that are sticking out will crisp and start to brown. 

3. When done, drizzle top with maple syrup and top with toasted pecans. 

4. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar and enjoy!

This could easily be doubled :)

A note about the bread... you probably don't want to use your average sandwich bread that you buy at the grocery store (unless it's fresh). It is preserved enough that it doesn't really get stale like fresh bread. The bread I used was so stale it was difficult to cut. But after soaking in custard, it was perfect!