My first thought was bread pudding, but I had never had it so I was a little unsure. My next thought was baked french toast, but since the bread was all broken, I didn't think that would work out that well. I started looking at bread pudding recipes, and I realized that bread pudding is a lot like baked french toast, but the bread is in chunks instead of slices. It sounded perfect!
The first time we ate it as dessert, fresh from the oven. The next morning as I re-warmed it, I thought it would be good with some kind of a cream cheese sauce, so I made one up. It turned out delicious, I am excited to share the recipe! I think it would be perfect to make for a big family holiday breakfast/brunch.
This recipe could be made gluten- and dairy-free if you used a GF/DF pumpkin cranberry bread recipe, and substituted your favorite non-dairy milk in the pudding recipe, and soy cream cheese in the sauce recipe. (I have a recipe for GF/DF pumpkin cranberry bread for anyone interested!)
Pumpkin Cranberry Bread Pudding with Cider Cream Cheese Sauce
Bread Pudding:
2 loaves pumpkin cranberry bread, cut or broken into chunks (it should be somewhat dry, so leave it out for a day or so before you make this)
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter
6 eggs
3/4 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
3 c hot milk
2 tbsp turbinado or brown sugar
pumpkin pie spice
Sauce:
1/2 c apple cider
2 oz cream cheese
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 c powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix bread chunks and melted margarine in a large bowl, then transfer to a buttered 9x13" baking pan.
In same bowl, beat eggs, and stir in sugar, vanilla, and salt until dissolved. Meanwhile, warm milk in microwave, watching to be sure it doesn't boil (I heated it for about 4 minutes, 2 minutes on 50% power, 2 minutes on full power).
Whisk a small amount of hot milk at a time into egg mixture, going slowly to temper the eggs. (If you put too much hot milk in at once, you will scramble the eggs. I had PH slowly pour the hot milk in as I whisked the egg mixture.)
Pour the egg-milk custard mixture over the bread, then sprinkle with turbinado sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Let it sit until the bread has soaked up most of the liquid, about 5 minutes.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.
While the bread pudding is baking, make the sauce:
In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sauce ingredients. Heat, stirring often (I used a whisk to help the cream cheese incorporate better) until the mixture boils and thickens slightly. Transfer to a glass measuring cup or other spouted container, if desired, and pour sauce over individual slices of bread pudding.
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