In our last post we brought you a quesadilla shaped like a pumpkin. Now we bring you dishes that contain actual pumpkin! As it gets progressively colder outside, it’s only natural to crave hearty and warm comfort foods. The leaves fall and warm days are less frequent, and suddenly there’s an excuse to fill your house/dorm/apartment with the smell of pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is a classic staple for any festive dinner table, but there are so many other options for a good-old can of pumpkin. We started with a toasty and decadent Pumpkin Bread Pudding. And since we had some pumpkin leftover from this endeavor, we decided to use it again the next morning for Pumpkin Pancakes with Sautéed Apples.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

(adapted from Gourmet by smittenkitchen.com – Cara’s favorite food blog!)

1 1/2 cups whole milk (Or 1 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup whole milk)
3/4 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs plus 1 yolk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
5 cups cubed (1-inch) day-old baguette or crusty bread
3/4 stick unsalted butter

While preheating oven to 350°F with rack in middle, melt butter in bottom of a 8-inch square baking dish. Once it is melted, take it out of the oven and toss bread cubes with butter, coating thoroughly. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients. Pour them over buttered bread cubes in baking dish, stirring to make sure all pieces are evenly coated. Bake until custard is set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cara had made this recipe before (actually Wednesday night for a different dinner party…) with a stale baguette from WesShop but as we were acquiring the ingredients for the bread pudding last night, we were in for an unpleasant surprise when we found that there were no baguettes left at WesShop! Being the improv masters that we are, we settled for bulky rolls instead. We tore up the rolls into 1 inch cubes and put them in the oven for about 20 minutes on 200˚F to dry them out.

We served the bulky roll version topped with vanilla ice cream at a dinner party and everyone loved it! The one made with the baguette was more texturally pleasing, as the bread was able to hold up to the custard and obtain that perfect mushy/crunchy combination that makes bread pudding so good. But sometimes you’ve just gotta work with what you’ve got, and it was still spicy, warm, comforting and delicious. The best part is that when you open the oven you’re hit with the cozy smell of fall. What could be better?

Cut to the next morning…

We decided to continue on our pumpkin kick and make pumpkin pancakes with sauteed apples. Neither of us are frequent pancake makers, so we found a recipe on Epicurious.com for Spiced Pumpkin Pancakes. We followed the recipe almost exactly at first, only substituting out the pumpkin pie spice (who has that?) for a combination of cinnamon, ginger, allspice and clove. We made a few, tasted them and decided they were kind of bland and pretty disappointing.

Then it was time to try to salvage the batter! We whisked in about 1/2 cup of additional pumpkin, added more of the spices, 1-2 tablespoons of sugar and a sprinkle of flour (to try to balance out the added moisture of the extra pumpkin).

These additions definitely helped boost the flavor, although we both agreed that the pancakes weren’t exactly what we’d hoped they’d be. The taste was there, but the texture was a little moist making the pancakes not quite as hearty or substantial as we would have liked, probably due to the amount of beaten egg whites that the recipe called for.

The best part of the breakfast was the sauteed apples. Cara makes these often, sometimes changing up the spices or the amount of sugar, depending on the sweetness of the apples and what they’re being served with. They make a great topping for pancakes and waffles, but are equally good with plain yogurt and granola.

Sauteed Apples

3-4 apples, cored and sliced (with or without skins, depending on your preference)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons light brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

In a skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add sliced apples and stir, allowing them to start to soften for 3-4 minutes. Add brown sugar and cinnamon and stir until evenly distributed with the apples. Let this mixture cook, stirring periodically, until sugar dissolves and apples are soft, but not mushy.

About Jenn So

Jenn So is a senior Film Studies major who hails from a quaint town nestled among the pine trees of Maine. On campus, she is one of the head house managers of the Wesleyan Film Series. In Maine, she grew up eating her mother’s traditional Cantonese cooking and worked at her parents’ restaurant. This ignited her love for all things food and restaurant related. She has worked as a pantry chef in a French bistro and loves to travel and try exciting new dishes food from all over the world. In the recent past, she has tasted the cuisines in Australia, Thailand and China. After graduation, she hopes to roam the globe in search of even more delicious adventures.