Let's go back, way back to September 16, 1997.  I sent my bestie, V a recipe for Pumpkin Custard.  I loved that recipe and thought she would enjoy it as well.  Well, me, being me, lost the recipe, many times, MANY times, and I would have to ask her for it and she always came thru.  For some reason I never posted this online and it was on the hard drive of my old computer that crashed and had to be reformatted and I lost it once again.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Here is the original recipe:

3 cups French bread, cubed
⅔ cup 1% low fat milk
¼ cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 egg white
8 packets SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener with Fiber
¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS

   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray four (4 oz) ramekins with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside until ready to use.
   2. Cut bread into one-inch cubes. Set aside.
   3. Mix milk, pumpkin, egg, egg white SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener with Fiber, spices and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl. Add bread chunks and stir until bread is coated. Allow bread to soak up moisture for 10-15 minutes.
   4. Spoon bread pudding into the prepared ramekins. Top with chopped pecans. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and cover with foil. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 10-15 minutes or until firm to the touch. Serve warm or chilled.

Serving Size: 1 ramekin (about 4 oz)

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And here are my changes to make it even lower in calories

I used 4 slices of cubed 100% Whole Wheat Nature’s Own bread instead of the french bread the recipe calls for.

I didn’t have Splenda with Fiber, I just used 8 packets of regular Splenda

I doubled the pumpkin pie spice to a heaping 1/2 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

If you have almond milk, this will pull the calories down even further, but I didn’t have it so I used skim milk.

Weight Watcher Calculations for the entire recipe –

• Wheat bread – 2 points for 4 slices
• Pumpkin – 0 points
• 1 egg and 1 egg white – 2 points
• Skim milk – 1 point

That’s 5 points for the entire recipe.  So that comes to 1.25 points per serving, if you add a few pecans and Cool Whip, you will still have less than 2 Weight Watcher points per ramekin.

If you are one of those people who doesn’t care for Splenda, you can substitute sugar or brown sugar, but of course your calories are going to increase.

This would be great with a sauce on it, I personally didn’t think it needed it, and I didn’t want to add the calories. 

I served this with just a dollop of Cool Whip Lite…

The original recipe came from the Splenda web site, check out the original recipe and other great ideas using Splenda here>>>

To ensure the custards cook gently and gradually, place the ramekins in a baking pan lined with a kitchen towel and partially fill the pan with hot water (known as a water bath). This helps insulate the delicate custards from the heat.
Ingredients:

Juice of 2 lemons
2 cups heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup plus 6 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 egg yolks

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 300°F. Line a shallow baking pan with a kitchen towel. Have a pot of boiling water ready.

In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the lemon juice to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the juice is reduced to about 1 Tbs., 3 to 5 minutes.

In another saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream, lemon zest and the 1/2 cup sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, until steam rises from the surface, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let stand for 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk together the vanilla and egg yolks until smooth and combined. Slowly add the cream mixture, whisking constantly, then stir in the reduced lemon juice. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl and divide among six 3.5-oz. ramekins. Place the ramekins in the prepared baking pan and add boiling water to fill the pan halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan loosely with aluminum foil and bake until the custards are just set, about 40 minutes.

Remove the ramekins from the pan and transfer to a wire rack. Let the custards cool to room temperature, about 1 1/2 hours, then refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

Just before serving, sprinkle 1 tsp. sugar evenly over the surface of each custard. Using a kitchen torch according to the manufacturer’s instructions, move the flame continuously in small circles over the surface until the sugar melts and lightly browns. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.