My friend Colleen sent me the link to this recipe – and upon first sight I couldn’t wait to make it. So, I’m naming it after her. Today, I just did the recipe as it was listed in the original article in the Seattle Times Food & Wine section – except that I coated my baking pan with butter, drizzled more butter on top, and broiled it prior to taking it out of the oven to crust up the top a little. I was having a girls night with my three sisters, and brought it for dessert.
Obviously this is a fall to Christmas baked good since eggnog and cranberries are only really available around this time of year. My youngest sister said this tastes like Christmas on a spoon. I’d have to agree. It’s a moist delicious bread that tastes a little like pumpkin pie, with the richness of eggnog and the spices of the holidays. The cranberry compote it’s served with it tart and tangy, the perfect offset to the rich bread pudding. However – with the sweet tooth that runs deep in our family, my sisters and I kind of agreed that we’d rather have it with a vanilla dipping sauce/custard the next time. And, I’ll probably do up the bread pudding in individual ramekins next time for a prettier presentation.
Thanks Colleen for the awesome recipe. It needs a few bakerlady tweaks I think to be truly worthy of your name. But it’s pretty stinkin awesome just as is too. Just like you. 🙂
**Update – I’ve decided I’m going to make this again for brunch at my momma’s this weekend. Here’s what I’m going to change to make it more awesome – and more like Colleen.
1. I’m going to kick up the spices a little. Probably some pumpkin pie spice in place of the nutmeg and make it a full teaspoon.
2. I’m going to bake it up in individual ramekins.
3. At the bottom of each ramekin I’m going to put some spiced rum vanilla custard(recipe to come). Then layer the bread pudding on top. Still served with the cranberry compote.
So, it will be a little crusty on the outside, but once you get to the bottom of things it will be warm and gooey – with a little kick of spicy cranberry on the side. I think that pretty much describes Colleen. Those of you who know her, don’t you think?
“Colleen” – Pumpkin Eggnog Bread Pudding
Copyright 2010 by Kathy Casey Food Studios(r)
8 cups packed 1/2-inch to 1-inch cubed, rustic baguette or French bread
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup (canned) pumpkin purée
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
4 large eggs
2 1/2 cups high-quality eggnog (not fat-free or low-fat)
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 tablespoons spiced rum
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1. Put the bread cubes in a large bowl and drizzle with melted butter.
3. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
4. Transfer the bread pudding mixture to a buttered 7-by-11-inch or 9-inch square glass baking pan. Drizzle with additional 2 tablespoons of butter, melted. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the center is just set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Serve the pudding warm, topped with some of the Spiced Cranberry Compote.
Bakerlady 
Anything described as “Christmas on a spoon” is something worth trying!
And really, posts like this should be illegal before I eat my bowl of Total in the morning. Just sayin’… 😉
Sorry to ruin your Total in the morning – but don’t eggs and pumpkin count as breakfast foods? Just sayin’ 😉
Christmas on a spoon? Count me in! YUM-O.
Congrats on being pressed. 🙂
http://yourlifesentence.wordpress.com/
Teri
Thanks!
This looks absolutely amazing, and it combines two of my favorite fall/winter flavors! Thanks for sharing, and congrats on being FP!
Thanks for reading! I’m pretty stoked about being FP.
I was logging in to do a new post on my blog and I saw the picture of this bread pudding. I had to check it out. OMGoodness!!! After I read your post and the recipe, I decided I would make this tonight. I will make a slight variation; I will forgo the cranberry compote and I will add raisins to the pudding (can’t decide if I should use dark or golden raisins). If all goes well, I will make this for Thanksgiving.
I’m sure raisins will be a great addition to this. I’ll bet if you soaked them in the spiced rum from the recipe before adding them in they’d be out of this world!
Had not thought of that! I have some rum, I brought back from a trip to Jamaica (not spiced, but….*shrug*). I also have some rum cream; I may incorporate that in the pudding.
If you put a little allspice, a smidge of vanilla and a clove in your rum and let it sit for about an hour, you’ll get the spiced rum flavor. 🙂
Ewwww,,, Looks tasty! 🙂
Oh my stars. I am in love with eggnog and never thought to add it to my bread. That sounds fantastic.
You will love it! I agree eggnog is just about the best thing on earth.
Another pumpkin recipe for the arsenol 🙂 Congrats on FP!
I know I’m always looking for more ways to use pumpkin. Thanks!
christmas on a spoon? COUNT ME IN! anything christmas involved i must try. recipe looks good.
http://enjoibeing.wordpress.com/
You betcha! Christmas baking is the best!
My mouth is watering! This looks delicious… but where I come from, bread pudding is always topped with a bourbon sauce! 🙂 Maybe an eggnog bourbon sauce on top? Oh yeah! Maybe some dried cranberries inside, instead of the traditional raisins in regular bread pudding. I’m wishing I had a loaf of french bread lying around. Thanks for the recipe!
Those all sound like amazing tweaks! I love it. Let me know how they turn out!
It looks wonderful–perhaps it will take me out of my Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes.
It’s worth a try! 🙂
Hmmm, I just cut out a coupn for Cap’t Morgan last night. Now I have the perfect excuse, er reason, to go buy it! Thanks for the mouth-watering post.
You got a coupon for Cap’t Morgan?! I’m a couponer too – never seen one of those! Jealous! 🙂
Sounds divine! One of my favorite ways to tweak recipes is to use honey instead of sugar, especially for pumpkin recipes, for an extra spicy taste.
Honey instead of sugar huh? That sounds very interesting.
Honey? Good idea.
Pumpkin eggnog bread pudding? It looks like excellent. And the taste?
If it may be of interest for you, I have some posts about food in my blog, maybe pudding, and I am open to new ideas. Please simply search “food” or “pudding” in my blog.
This sounds delicious!
No idea how I found this blog…but am so happy I did! My husband love,love,loves bread pudding and I can’t wait to bake and eat!
I’m so glad you did too. Hope your hubby loves it!
Chistmas in a spoon, I hope gifts come with it as welll 😉
Your recipe looks yummy and I havent done eggnogs for quite sometime so I will try your recipe.
Raymund
http://angsarap.wordpress.com
I always have extra eggnog – because I buy a quart and can’t ever finish it. This is a great recipe to use it up. 🙂
What a fun post! Looks delightfully decadent and a nice alternative for dessert at holiday time.I’ll be sure to come back for more.
Hooray! See you soon!
I love the idea of pumpkin eggnog bread pudding. I can’t wait to try these. I also love your chocolate chip background! Congrats on being Freshly Pressed.
Thanks! The chocolate chip background is from a batch of cookies a couple years ago. I thought it was perfect when I set up my blog. 🙂
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed – no surprise with such a magical recipe, it sounds absolutely heavenly.
I have subscribed to receive your updates so I won’t miss out on anything!
🙂 Mandy
Thanks Mandy!
I’m going to give this recipe to my son to make for Thanksgiving. He’s 16 now and he always has helped me with the desert for Thanksgiving dinner. (We usually make 3 different kinds of desert.) He loves pumpkin and he loves bread–sounds like a winner for him!We’ll be leaving out the rum, however. He and his sister hate the smell of any kind of alcohol; good think I don’t drink. I’m sure it will still be delicious! Thanks for sharing.
You could easily replace the rum with water or apple juice. 🙂 Enjoy! It will be perfect for Thanksgiving!
I’m saddened…I tried to “press this” and it wouldn’t let me…even called me a cheater lol! I adore eggnog and who doesn’t like pumpkin cake or pie. loooksss amaazing!
I’ll try and get that fixed for you.
Ummm, wow. I absolutely must make this for Christmas this year (I’m in Canada, so we already celebrated our Thanksgiving a month early). Thank you so much for sharing!
Have you posted the spiced rum vanilla custard? I can’t find it, and I really want to layer it under the bread pudding as suggested. This looks incredible!
Haven’t posted it yet – what I planned to do was take this basic vanilla custard recipe and substitute 1/4 of the water for spiced rum. But I haven’t made it yet, so didn’t want to post it until I’d done it myself. If you do it, let me know how it turns out! 🙂
3 Egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan until combined. Gradually whisk in cream and water until smooth. Stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Remove pan from heat stir in extract. Cover surface of custard with plastic wrap, cool slightly.
thanks! I’ll give it a try.
LOVED this! I used rum flavoring since I didn’t have any rum. And, since the store was all out of pumpkin pie spice, I used pumpkin egg nog! I can guarantee will be making this several times around the holidays. And I loved the cranberry compote!!
I’m so glad you liked it! Great ideas for subbing the stuff you didn’t have! 🙂
id like to take a bite… hehhehe …
i made this for a holiday party tonight and everyone ADORED it. i used the rum flavoring instead of rum, added quite a bit of vietnamese cinnamon, and served it with a white chocolate sauce. so fantastic and decadent! thanks for sharing!
Mmmm. White chocolate sauce sounds fantastic. Glad it was a hit!