Southern Living Pumpkin Recipes

I love fall food. Almost any dish with pumpkin in it calls to me. And call me strange - you won't be the first one - but I also adore squash, turnips, beets and other root crops. I like them roasted with a light glaze of olive oil and sea salt, pureed in hearty soups, or baked into casseroles. Most of all, I like breads heavy with spices and pumpkin.

This month's Southern Living has great recipes in it using pumpkin: Caramel-Pecan-Pumpkin Bread Puddings and Mini Pumpkin Cakes, along with a tutorial on how to roast pumpkin seeds, which are both nutritious and tasty. The bread pudding recipes are simple. They also offer a one-dish version if you don't want to make mini-puddings. The recipe calls for eggs, pumpkin, milk, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla extract and French bread. The sauce uses pecans, brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and vanilla extract.

The October issue is worth buying (in my opinion, they all are), but if you don't have one, here's a decade-old recipe from Bon Appetit

Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Caramel Sauce

2 cups half and half
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 cups 1/2-inch cubes egg bread (about 10-ounces)
1/2 cup golden raisins

Caramel sauce
1 1/4 cups (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup whipping cream
Powdered sugar

Preparation
For bread pudding:Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk half and half, pumpkin, dark brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon and vanilla extract in large bowl to blend. Fold in bread cubes. Stir in golden raisins. Transfer mixture to 11x7-inch glass baking dish. Let stand 15 minutes. Bake pumpkin bread pudding until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare caramel sauce:Whisk brown sugar and butter in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts. Whisk in cream and stir until sugar dissolves and sauce is smooth, about 3 minutes.
Sift powdered sugar over bread pudding. Serve warm with caramel sauce.