While Emily Ellyn is currently based in Florida, the Midwest’s harvest season finds its way into her oven with her pumpkin bread pudding. “To be honest, it’s really good with hamburger buns,” she says, although any combination of stale bread will work for the dessert. “I like it warm, right out of the pan, with that rum glaze on it,” she says. “You should probably drink it with coffee to take it down a notch, but I like to overdo it.”

Pumpkin Bread Pudding | Makes 6 servings

INGREDIENTS
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup canned pure pumpkin
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie 
spice or 1/2 teaspoon 
ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 pinch ground cloves
5 cups 1-inch cubed, day-old baguette or crusty bread
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F with rack in middle. Whisk together cream, pumpkin, milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and spices in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine bread and melted butter, then add pumpkin mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to a greased 8-inch-square baking dish. Bake until set, 25–30 minutes. Top with rum glaze. 

Rum Glaze: Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of rum in a small mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour the glaze onto the finished bread pudding. Let the glaze set for at least 20 minutes before serving.