Pumpkin bread pudding

For a person who never in her life has faced true want (despite being technically financially eligible for free government cheese back in our 20s while we were working, poorly paid professionals), I still have an ingrained sense that food is precious and must not be wasted. Whether that stems from parents raised in the Depression era or the idea that you needed enough pantry stores to outlast the blizzard du jour growing up in the sticks, I couldn't say. It's particularly important to me when it's produce I grew, probably some farm kid holdover.

So this recipe immediately called out to me. It's tailor made to use up those precious pumpkins plus making a dent in the containers of bread cubes I stash into the freezer corners before the end of a loaf gets away from me. Besides, it sounded like a really tasty Sunday breakfast with make-ahead bonus points.

Pumpkin bread pudding
Adapted from King Arthur Baking. I added orange peel because I had some that needed using. Like the bread and the pumpkin. And the milk won't last forever.

Ingredients
8 cups bread cubes
6 eggs
2 cups cream or half and half
1 cup milk
2 scant cups pumpkin puree, or about 1 can prepared
¾ cup sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup rum, optional but tasty
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for garnish
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Zest of 1 orange
Crystallized ginger for garnish, optional
Whipped cream for garnish, optional
Maple syrup for serving, optional

Method
Preheat oven to 350 if baking immediately. Spray a 9- by 13-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spread bread cubes across the bottom of the baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, cream, milk, pumpkin, sugars, rum, cinnamon, ginger, salt, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla. Pour over bread cubes. Let stand for at least 30 minutes until the bread has absorbed much of the liquid. Or you can cover the dish and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, then uncover it and proceed. (If your baking dish isn’t Pyrex and up to abrupt temperature shifts, set it out to let it come closer to room temperature before baking.)

Sprinkle with grated nutmeg and bake for 40 to 50 minutes until set and starting to take on color. (Mine definitely needed the 50 minutes, but it had come from refrigerator temperature.) Serve warm topped with maple syrup or whipped cream and sprinkled with crystallized ginger. 

Rating: Tasty, tasty. Not overwhelmingly pumpkin-flavored, with the spices starring the show. When prepped the night before, a grand brunch option. I opted for maple syrup rather than whipped cream since I was serving it for breakfast rather than a dessert, but I'm sure that would be dandy as well. I could see making this one again, since if you have canned pumpkin it would be fairly pantry friendly.

So that took care of one container of pumpkin puree, two of bread crumbs and the small jar of orange zest. Now explain to me why the refrigerator seems even harder to put things away in. Darn structural leftover containers.