Cooking With A Buz: Infused Pumpkin Bread Pudding With Bourbon-Caramel Apples

October always makes me want something warm, rich and just a little over the top. This bread pudding checks every box: buttery brioche, pumpkin custard, cinnamon, nutmeg, toasted pecans and warm apples coated in a bourbon caramel sauce. I like using infused butter here because you can calculate the total THC in the pan, divide it by the number of servings and keep the portions consistent. It also means nobody has to guess how strong that second helping might be. Grab a bag of your favorite herb, twist one up and let's get Cooking with a Buz!

Yield: 10–12 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 45–50 minutes

Total Time: About 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the Bread Pudding

• 1 large loaf brioche or challah, about 12 ounces, cut into 1-inch cubes

• 1 cup pumpkin puree

• 4 large eggs

• 2 cups whole milk

• 1 cup heavy cream

• 3/4 cup brown sugar

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, lightly toasted

• 2 tablespoons regular butter, for the baking dish

  
  

For the Infused Butter

• 4 tablespoons cannabis-infused butter, melted

  
  

Use an infused butter with a known potency whenever possible. If your butter contains 10 mg THC per tablespoon, for example, 4 tablespoons would contribute 40 mg THC to the entire pan. Divided into 10 servings, that would be about 4 mg THC per serving before accounting for normal variation during mixing and baking.

For the Bourbon-Caramel Apples

• 3 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• Pinch of salt

• 2 tablespoons bourbon

• 1/3 cup heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  
  

Instructions

Start by heating your oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish and set it aside.

Now grab your brioche or challah and cut it into roughly one-inch cubes. If your bread is a day or two old, even better. Slightly dry bread soaks up the custard beautifully. If it's fresh, spread the cubes on a baking sheet and let them sit out for a while, or give them about 8 to 10 minutes in a low oven just to dry the surface a little. You don't want toast; you just don't want wet, soft bread fighting the custard.

Put the bread cubes into a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, whole milk, heavy cream, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Keep whisking until the pumpkin is completely blended and you have a smooth, creamy custard.

Now stir in your melted infused butter. Make sure it is mixed thoroughly throughout the custard. This step matters because even distribution helps keep the dosing as consistent as possible from one serving to the next.

Pour the pumpkin custard over the bread cubes. Gently fold everything together until the bread is evenly coated, then let it sit for about 10 minutes. Give it another gentle stir halfway through so those top pieces get a chance to soak too.

Fold in the toasted pecans, then transfer everything into your prepared baking dish. Spread it out evenly, but don't smash it down. You want some of those bread cubes sticking up so they get golden and crispy while the inside stays soft.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the center is set but still slightly soft. A knife inserted near the middle should come out mostly clean without raw custard clinging to it.

While the bread pudding is baking, make the apples.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced apples, brown sugar, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Cook them for about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples begin to soften and the sugar starts turning syrupy.

Carefully add the bourbon and let it cook for another minute or two so some of the alcohol cooks off and that bourbon flavor settles into the apples.

Lower the heat and pour in the heavy cream. Stir everything together and let it bubble gently for another 2 to 3 minutes until the sauce becomes smooth, glossy and caramel-like. Finish it with the vanilla, then pull the pan from the heat.

Let your bread pudding rest for about 10 minutes before cutting it. That gives the custard time to settle and makes it much easier to portion evenly.

Spoon a generous pile of warm bourbon-caramel apples over each serving, making sure you get some of that sauce running down into all those little crispy edges.

Serve it warm.

And if you're dosing carefully, keep those portions consistent. Bread pudding has a dangerous habit of convincing you that you need another piece before the first one has had time to introduce itself.