Pumpkin and Fall Updates

Pumpkin season has come and gone and I guess, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, now's the time to bust out ingredients for apple pie (or cranberry pie.. o0o0o0oh). But I'm still in my pumpkin phase -- mostly because I didn't really have the chance to make anything pumpkin-flavored before October ended, so I guess I'll save apple pie for later. Time lent itself generously to me last week, so I made not one, but two pumpkin-flavored goodies! I'm only going to share the recipe for one of them, especially since I'm still a newbie to this whole recipe-blogging business, but hopefully this will be the start of my recipe-blogging adventures!

Anyway... Time seems to be flying at bullet speed these days. I feel like I'm riding one of those bullet trains in Japan that reduce travel time from 8 hours to 2 or something crazy like that. Maybe it has to do with the fact that it's my last year in college, but I really can't believe it's already week 8! This quarter has been pretty busy; I am taking all upper-division writing classes and absolutely need to pass all of them, so I've been reading and writing a whole lot more now than I've ever done in college. I'm thankful though because I always complained that I didn't have much time to read for leisure anymore, but God has provided in this way... Although I can't say it's all leisure reading, haha. But so far, so good! Just gotta keep working hard and fighting for joy despite feeling extremely burnt out. Merh.

Thank God for His new mercies and sustaining strength every day! And for Starbucks/coffee shops in general :)

I love this design for Starbucks' holiday cups! Credit here.

But let us move on to the actual pumpkin goodness! I was craving something pumpkin-flavored sometime last week, but I didn't want to make pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake, and coincidentally, there was so much bread left-over from fundraiser lunch at church that I managed to take home 2 Costco-size bags of unopened hot dog buns. I ate hot dog bun toast for breakfast every day for one week, but eventually grew tired of it, so I decided to make pumpkin bread pudding instead. I found a recipe I liked on foodgawker, so that's what I will share with you. I tweaked the recipe a little bit to fit my own taste preference and the ingredients that I already had at the apartment, but not so much that I went out of my way to change everything. A couple of friends have tried the finished product and provided positive reviews, so hopefully you'll like it too! I enjoy it cold with milk or warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top :)

Photo from Use Real Butter since I forgot to snap some photos of the one I made

Pumpkin Bread Pudding
Adapted from Use Real Butter
(Makes one 8.5"x11" pan)

Ingredients (I doubled the measurements):

3 cups whole milk (I use Vitamin D milk)

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

2 large egg yolks (save the whites for something else later!)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin spice

12 tbsps. (3/4 cup) butter, melted

10 cups stale hot dog buns, sliced into 1-inch cubes

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven 350ºF with the rack in the middle.

2. In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Depending on your microwave, you might have to heat it for around 30secs~1 min.

3. Toss the hot dog buns in the melted butter. Try to get every cube soaked in butter. Set aside.

4. In another large bowl, whisk pumpkin puree, milk, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice together until just mixed.

5. Transfer the soaked hot dog buns into an 8.5"x11" pan and pour the pumpkin custard over it. Coat the buns in the custard as evenly as you can. If you have more custard than your pan can hold, leave the buns to soak in the custard then add the rest.

6. Bake 30~35 minutes or until the custard sets. Let cool and enjoy! :)