It was a few weeks ago – we had our dinner group here at my house. I selected a menu of “fall favorites,” and asked everyone to bring a part of the meal. This is about the delicious pumpkin dessert Dianne brought.
I was going through recipes online, following all the blogs I read, and ran across this one and thought, hmmm, that sounds so good. Dianne loves to make desserts . . .. maybe she’d like to try this. So I sent her the link and suggested it as a dessert for our group. As she explained that night of our dinner, she follows directions well. If I ask, she assumes I’m telling her she has to make this, so she did. She wasn’t all that enamored with it, but everyone else at the table thought it was wonderful. She said it was kind of fussy. We said oh, but it’s really tasty. She said it’s actually kind of healthy. We said, really? We couldn’t tell. It was rich and decadent. The angel food cake cubes gave it a kind of light texture. Good texture. Dianne likes bread pudding, but had never made one with angel food cake cubes, so she doomed it to failure because of it. We all thought it was really great, and if it was a bit lower in calorie than some desserts, all the better. We made up for it with the whipped cream we put on top, probably.
The recipe came from pastrychefonline – a Jenni Field recipe. And I’d definitely make this – it satisfied my hankering for pumpkin, and I liked the fluffy texture. You mix up a pumpkin and egg mixture (a custard) and then toss it with toasted angel food cake cubes, then bake in a water bath. The recipe suggested serving it warm, but we had it at room temp and thought it was just fine. Loved the candied pecans on top – use your own simple recipe, just add a bit of pumpkin pie spice to the mixture if you can – it gives the pecans a totally different taste and a good match with this dessert. Thanks, Dianne, for making this, even if you weren’t all that crazy about it – we thought it was great!
What’s GOOD: the pumpkin flavor, of course – it’s nice to have it in something other than pumpkin pie; the texture – we all liked the lightness of it – it’s nothing like the texture of a pie – more like a light pudding, and nothing like a bread pudding either (which is heavy and dense). This was light and almost fluffy, but not quite. The crunch of the candied pecans added a nice touch. And then, well, whipped cream. That cut the richness of it.
What’s NOT: Dianne thought the recipe was more work than she liked – you do have to toast the angel food cake cubes, and using a water bath isn’t exactly every cook’s idea of fun. But the pumpkin custard part is easy to mix up. Then you do want to make some toasted pecans – that’s another step. So, yes, I guess there are several steps to this and perhaps a big pile of dirty dishes too. But worth it.
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Pumpkin Butterscotch Angel Food Pudding
Recipe By: pastrychefonline blog, 2015
Serving Size: 8
8 ounces angel food cake cubes — (about 3/4 of a store bought whole one)
3 ounces butter — salted
4 1/2 ounces dark brown sugar
4 ounces pumpkin puree — (canned or homemade. If it’s very loose strain out some of the liquid until it is the consistency of apple butter)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt — (increase slightly if you aren’t using salted butter)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
Hot-to-boiling water for the water bath (about 1 1/2 quarts or so)
Candied pecans to sprinkle on top – use your own recipe, just add a bit of pumpkin pie spice
Whipped cream for serving on top
1. Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
2. Spread out the cubed angel food cake on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, tossing the cubes every few minutes, until golden.
3. If you have time, let the cubes sit out for several hours or overnight until they are stale and hard. If not, just keep going. Set the cake cubes aside.
4. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter. Add the dark brown sugar and stir the butter and brown sugar together until bubbling and starting to increase in volume, about 3 minutes. The mixture will start out looking separated but will come together, so worry not. Add the pumpkin puree, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. Cook and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add the 2 cups of milk.
5. Pour about 1/2-3/4 cup of the milk mixture in with the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour the eggs back into the custard and whisk until smooth. Strain into a large bowl.
6. Add the cake cubes into the custard mixture. If the cubes are stale, it will take about 20 minutes to soften. If not, it will take much less time. When finished, most of the custard will have been absorbed by the cake.
7. Pack the custard-soaked cake into buttered 1-cup ramekins or ring molds and pour in any additional custard evenly among the four. If using ring molds, line with parchment strips and wrap the bottoms with foil to prevent leaks. Place on a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Carefully pour in the hot water into the pan to a depth of about ½”. Carefully slide the oven rack into place and bake for about 30 minutes or until a knife stuck in the center of a pudding comes out clean.
8. Turn off the oven, crack open the oven door and allow the puddings to sit an additional 10 minutes. Carefully remove the puddings from the pan (leave the pan to deal with once the oven is cool and the water won’t burn you if it sloshes) and let cool on a wire rack. Serve barely warm garnished with some chopped candied pecans and some whipped cream. You can also chill them and reheat a bit when ready to serve.
Per Serving: 555 Calories; 25g Fat (40.3% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 73g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 222mg Cholesterol; 810mg Sodium.