Damn, peoples. I’ll be honest. I’ve cut out a lot of sugar in my life since that whole experiment. Even more dairy. Something happened last weekend, however, or two somethings. One, we went to a family dinner post-wedding where bread pudding was served. And two, PUMPKIN IS HAPPENING. Perhaps, you’ve heard?

I’ve decided to commit to making as much food with pumpkin in the next 45 days as possible. I’m just assuming you are too. It’s what we do in America once fall happens and we all lose our shit. Up first, gluten-free pumpkin bread pudding.

Something I actually do is buy a couple of sugar pumpkins and roast them, grab the seeds and do them up, then puree the hell out of it and make good bizness. This year, however, I’ve got less than zero time so I bought some organic pumpkin guts and went to town.

I also went to Rising Hearts and loaded up on gluten-free brioche because I wanted to do it right. Honestly, I think if you used another gluten-free white bread like Udi’s it would still turn out great, but I wanted to brioche it up. So I did! And wow, my entire family is flipping out about this recipe. It’s coming back. Soon.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

8 eggs
1 quart heavy cream (sub half-and-half if that’s how you roll, no judgment)
3/4 cup sugar (I actually used organic coconut palm sugar, I know, crazy)
1/2 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin (with no additives)
1 TB vanilla
1 pound gluten-free bread, preferably brioche
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Vanilla ice cream

Glaze:
1/2 cup pecans
1 TB brown sugar
1/2 TB butter
1/4 TB light corn syrup
Sprinkle of sea salt

1. Whisk eggs, cream, sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin puree and vanilla in a large bowl. Rip apart gluten-free bread and mix well in egg mixture. Allow to sit for one hour.

2. Preheat oven to 370 degrees. While you’re waiting for your bread mixture to soak, make your glaze. On medium heat in a skillet, mix brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup and allow to cook until bubbling. Add pecans to mix and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt and turn off the heat. Transfer pecans to parchment paper and allow to cool.

3. Pour bread putting mixture into a greased 13″ by 9″ dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

4. After bread pudding comes out of oven, set out vanilla ice cream. Let everything set for 7-9 minutes. Cut bread pudding into squares, put it on a plate and scoop ice cream on top. Add pecan mixture on top, and drizzle more maple syrup on top and serve.

Makes: 12 servings