Pumpkin Bread French Toast with Bacon Brittle

O.K. so here’s the plan. The day after Thanksgiving when the house is still buzzing with relatives ….I am serving this for breakfast!!!  Why you ask?? So they leave my leftovers alone! Status quo has been coffee, pumpkin pie………and then here we go…….. turkey sandwiches, cranberries, sweet potatoes, dressing and turnips! (You know who you are!) Now do you get the plan? Sounds a bit fussy after entertaining 30 plus. However, I plan on making the bread weeks in advance, whip creme from the day before, and the brittle leftover from my sweet potatoes. They won’t know what hit ’em!!!

Pumpkin Bread French Toast with *Bacon Brittle (see previous Sweet Potato post)

Makes 1 loaf

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, additional for preparing loaf pan

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated

1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9 inch loaf pan. Mix together flour, salt baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger in a small bowl. Beat the butter, sugar and oil together until creamy. Stir in vanilla. Add the pumpkin puree to the mix until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix until combined. Beat in the dry ingredients at low speed and add 2/3 cups water. Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center and comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let it cool completely.

French Toast

Serves 4

4 tablespoons butter, more for pan

2 cups milk, at room temperature

6 large eggs, at room temperature

salt

8 pieces pumpkin bread

For serving, bananas, fresh whipped creme and heated Maple syrup. Top with a shard of bacon brittle.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla and 1 teaspoon salt and whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Transfer mixture to large baking dish. Working in batches, add 2 or 3 slices of bread to mixture and let soak, turning once. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt about 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Add bread to pan, cook, turning once until golden, 1 1/2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to plate and top with bananas, whip creme and drizzle with maple syrup.

For serving the group I plan on using a large platter and arranging the pumpkin bread with overlapping slices. Then top with whipped creme, place sliced bananas, sprinkle the bacon brittle and drizzle with syrup.