Guess what I’ve been up to? For the past several months, Sis and I have been cooking up pumpkin dishes with the frozen puree made from last Halloween. Most of them were good, but unfortunately they weren’t as pumpkiny as I wanted. Well, I finally hit pay dirt with this rich dessert, found at southernfood.about.com. Not only was it delicious, but it also hits the spot pumpkin-wise. Here is the recipe:
8 ounces French bread, torn into small pieces, about 5 cups
2 cups half-and-half
3 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree
1 cup dried cranberries
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
Spray an 11x7-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Heat oven to 350ยบ.
In a bowl, cover bread with half-and-half; set aside.
In another bowl, combine eggs, sugars, pumpkin, cranberries, butter, spices, and vanilla; blend well. Pour pumpkin mixture over soaked bread and stir.
Pour mixture into prepared baking dish. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes, or until set.
Serves 8.
Sis couldn’t find French bread, so we replaced it with Italian bread. Also, we discovered that the cupboard didn’t contain cinnamon and vanilla, so we exchanged cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice, and omitted vanilla. Besides that, we used low-fat products for the butter and half-and-half. The final result was still yummy.
