Ingredients:
1 pie pumpkin, about the size of your hand
1 stick of butter (1/4 cup) plus 1 teaspoon butter, melted and divided
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup half and half
1/3 chopped pecans
1/2 a raisin bread loaf, cut into smaller pieces
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
Lemon-Vanilla Sauce, to taste
1 vanilla bean, split
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the butter to a pot over low heat to melt. Cut off the top of the pumpkin. Reserve the lid.
Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and pulp.
Brush the inside of the pumpkin with 1 teaspoon melted butter. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon brown sugar.
Cut the bread into similar sized pieces.
Top with the lid. Add the egg, sugar, half and half, pecans, raisin bread loaf pieces, and the remaining melted butter to a bowl and stir to combine.
Pour the pudding mixture onto a cookie pan sprayed with cooking spray. Add the pumpkin to the cookie sheet as well.
Bake the pumpkin and bread pudding for 25 minutes. Allow to cool enough to handle and add the bread pudding to the pumpkin.
While the pumpkin and bread pudding are baking, make the lemon-vanilla sauce. Split the vanilla seed down the middle.
Add vanilla bean, water, corn starch, sugar, and salt to a saute pan over medium heat. Stir until smooth and thickened. Add the butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Remove from heat when the mixture is warm.
Pour the lemon-vanilla sauce over the bread pudding as desired.
Have you ever been in possession of a recipe that is so good that you almost don’t want to share it? Well, this is one of those recipes. It took a lot of internal debating before I finally decided to share this recipe with you. (Yes, it is that good).
The bread pudding is sweet and slightly toasted, adding a little bit of a crunch to the dish and the cranberries add a pop of tanginess. The lemon-vanilla sauce is citrusy and sweet at the same time.
But the best part is that the nifty presentation has an additional enhancement: you can eat the pumpkin! Yay!
The pumpkin roasts and softens in the oven, making it easy to scrape away at it bite by bite.
You can make this recipe in individual sizes if you’re really looking for a dessert presentation that wows. Just use smaller pumpkins and distribute the bread pudding among them.
