Pumpkin Bread Pudding

It's that time of year. The time when I start making pumpkin everything.
I feel kinda embarrassed admitting this, but a couple weeks ago, I bought every last can of pumpkin off the shelf of my local Publix and I will use it all in the next couple of weeks.
I really wanted to make Pumpkin Bread Pudding last year, but never had the right occasion for what I felt, was a really rich dessert.
Then, this year, I ran across a pumpkin bread pudding recipe on smitten kitchen that she made using only whole milk. And a few eggs. One of the things that makes bread pudding so ridiculously rich is the fact that most of the time cream is involved and lots of egg yolks. This recipe made it seem almost healthy. (don't laugh!)

I just happened to have a leftover baguette from when I bought the ingredients for this,
so it just seemed like the perfect time to make the bread pudding.

I toasted my bread cubes in the oven before I threw this thing together, just so the bread would be completely dried out and crisp.
This turned out perfectly. I have made bread pudding before and my husband prefers that I call it something else because he thinks that the word "bread pudding" sounds digusting. So, we call it "French Toast Pie" for his benefit.
We tried a bite as soon as I pulled this out of the oven and it was good. We let it cool a little and added a dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream- really good. We let it rest a little while longer and tasted another bite- delicious. I put the leftovers in the fridge and they were delicious the next day and the day after that. My husband didn't taste it until 2 days later and he loved it cold, straight from the fridge. (with whipped cream)
I had my son reading the ingredients to me and we accidentally added 1 tsp of salt. It didn't matter. This still turned out fabulously.

Perfect.

Recipe for Pumpkin Bread Pudding
* I toasted my bread cubes in the oven at 400 degrees F, for about 8-10 minutes to make sure they were dried out and crispy
* I used only whole milk
* I added close to 1 cup of pumpkin
* this was really good right out if the oven, warm, at room temperature and cold- after sitting in the fridge for a couple days (yes, we tasted it at all those different times)