Now why is it so hot this weekend? I thought we had finally reached cooler temperatures and cozy fall weather, but no. It was far too hot for my liking yesterday.
With that being said, I stay inside most of the time so I’m pretty good at pretending it’s cozy and chilly outside. And making cozy pumpkin spice recipes all day makes it pretty easy too.
I got the idea for this recipe a long time ago, like back in the winter. I made a caramelized banana bread pudding which turned out to be a very popular recipe. I immediately knew I wanted to make a pumpkin spice variation of it in the fall, and now here we are. This was definitely one of those recipes I had been thinking about and was extremely excited to start testing.
Describe this Dessert to Me
Taste: The bread pudding is swirled with cozy spices, sweet pumpkin, and nutty brown butter. This pairs perfectly with the deep bittersweet flavors that come from caramelizing the pudding. And the warmer notes from the coffee custard on top adds the perfect final touch.
Texture: The bread pudding is soft and a little gooey, with a crisp sugary exterior. The custard sauce on top adds the perfect amount of moisture, and the two parts really melt together perfectly.
Ease: Bread pudding is very simple to make, we simply mix together a custard base in a bowl, fold in some bread, and bake it. The custard sauce is a little trickier because we’re carefully cooking eggs, but as far as custards go it’s actually pretty simple and quick as well. Finally, the serving process is a little more time consuming than the more conventional bread pudding, but it’s 100% worth the wait for this dessert!
The Custard Sauce
This is a very standard pourable custard sauce, with a little coffee kick. It starts with egg yolks and honey, which gives it a little more gentle sweetness. Then we add cream, plenty of espresso powder, and a little vanilla. We cook this on the stove until it thickens to a perfectly creamy sauce, which adds the perfect contrast to the finished bread pudding.
The Bread Pudding
This is a very standard bread pudding base, with a few cozy and autumnal twists! It starts with a custard base with nutty brown butter, brown sugar, spices, pumpkin puree, lots of eggs, and milk and cream. We then soak some slightly stale bread cubes in that custard base and layer it in a bread pan with a little cinnamon sugar. This will bake and set up in the oven before we let it cool completely and chill it.
The Serving
After we’ve made the bread pudding, we slice it and grill it with butter and sugar. The butter will brown a little and the sugar will melt down and caramelize until we are left with a caramelized and a little crisp exterior. This blends with the gooey inside of the bread pudding, and the creamy custard on top perfectly.
Pumpkin Spice Caramelized Bread Pudding with Coffee Custard
Ingredients
Method
- In a large saucepan, whisk the eggs and honey together. Add the salt, espresso powder, and heavy cream and whisk to combine. Allow this to come to a boil on medium heat, whisking constantly. Make sure you keep the mixture constantly moving, or the eggs will curdle. The mixture should thicken slightly as it cooks, and can easily coat the back of a wooden spoon. This will take around 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and immediately stir in the vanilla.
- Pour the custard into a jar and seal tightly. Chill the custard for at least 4 hours. Custard will thicken as it chills
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once melted, stir frequently as the butter will begin to sizzle and foam before it starts to brown. Once the butter turns an amber brown color, remove from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Let the butter cool for 5 minutes before continuing.
- To the slightly cooled brown butter, add in the brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and whisk until combined. The mixture will be very thick, similar to wet sand. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each until combined. Finally, whisk in the pumpkin puree, whole milk, and heavy cream. The batter should be very thin.
- Using a large rubber spatula, fold the bread cubes into the batter until the bread is evenly coated. Let the mixture sit while we preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 375℉ and grease a 9 inch loaf pan with butter. Set aside.
- In a small bowl toss together the brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Pour/scoop half of the bread pudding into the previously prepared pan and top with a layer of half of the cinnamon sugar. Scoop the rest of the bread pudding on top and sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon sugar on the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes in the center rack of the oven. After 30 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for another 25 minutes or so. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1 hour in the pan set on a wire cooling rack. Then, cover with foil and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Toss together the granulated and brown sugar.
- Slice the chilled bread pudding into the desired number of servings. Spread softened salted butter over one side of each slice. Melt 1 Tablespoon of salted butter on a skillet over medium heat and place the bread pudding on the pan non-buttered side down. While it cooks, sprinkle the buttered side of each slice of the bread with 1 Tablespoon of the sugar mixture, and use your hands to slightly pat it in. (This helps it stick when you flip it). Once the bottom side is golden brown, flip the slice over to cook the side with the sugar. Cook for 2 minutes or so, and the sugar will be melty and caramelized.
- Serve hot off the pan with a generous spoonful of the coffee custard