Weather: 43 degrees, mostly sunny
What I’m listening to: Love, Matt White
In preparation for making the very first pumpkin dish of the season, I took to my cupboards and pulled out my cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice to make a big batch of my homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix. I’m intent on using every last bit of the warm, spicy autumnal goodness between now and the holidays in anything from hot beverages to oatmeal, and from quick breads to pies.
Today, it was some marvelous baked pumpkin french toast with a layer of lightly sweetened ginger-orange cream cheese in the middle, all topped with salted pecans. Swoon city.
Baked Pumpkin French Toast with Ginger Orange Cream Cheese
Baked pumpkin french toast with ginger orange cream cheese in the middle and salted pecans on top. Adapted from [Damn Delicious|http://damndelicious.net/2014/09/15/baked-pumpkin-cream-cheese-french-toast/].
Yields: 6 servings
- For the Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon fresh orange zest
- 1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, minced
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar
- For the French Toast:
- 12 slices french bread, cubed
- 1 cup milk
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 3 eggs
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (I used vanilla bean paste)
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ cup pecans, roughly chopped
- fine sea salt
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 pan.
In the bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese with the orange zest, ginger, and powdered sugar until smooth, scraping sides of the bowl as needed. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, pumpkin puree, eggs, butter, sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice until well combined.
Place half of the bread cubes in a layer in the greased 9x13 pan. Drizzle half of the pumpkin mixture over the bread. Using a rubber spatula, spread the cream cheese mixture over top of that (it doesn't need to be perfect). Then top with the remaining bread cubes and drizzle the remaining pumpkin mixture over top of everything. Press the bread down into the liquid to saturate. Sprinkle the top of the french toast with the pecans and finish with fine sea salt.
Bake 35-40 minutes, until cooked through in the center. Serve hot with pure maple syrup.
