Pumpkin Ginger Bread Pudding

Pumpkin season!

I've been wanting to try something pumpkiny for a while, since it saturates the fall culture so much in flavor and color and decoration and whatnot. I'm not much of a baker, since I tend to fall short of the necessary precision, but I wanted to bake a fun seasonal dessert that I could potentially bring to other gatherings.

I began by making crystallized ginger. I couldn't find any already-crystallized at the store, so I looked up a recipe and found it was really simple. I took fresh ginger root, then peeled it and sliced it thinly. I brought 3 cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan, after which I added my ginger slices and a cup full of sugar. I reduced the heat and then covered the ginger and let it simmer for five minutes. I then removed the saucepan from heat and let it sit for another twenty minutes.

Here I preheated the oven to 200.

Meanwhile I took a large bowl and combined eggs, heavy cream, brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, and vanilla extract. After it was mixed well, I stirred in the canned pumpkin and set this aside while I finished preparing my ginger.

I poured the ginger into a colander. At this point, I really, really wish I'd preserved the ginger water to make ginger ale, but I had nary an appropriate airtight container on hand for its safekeeping. Dadgummit.

Then I placed the ginger slices in a glass baking pan and put them in the oven for 8-10 minutes to dry out. After they were dried, I tossed them with sugar and then diced them up.

In a 7x11 baking pan, I combined a crumbled loaf of pound cake, the diced ginger, and golden raisins. Then I poured my liquid mixture all over and let it soak for fifteen minutes. During this time I preheated my oven to 375. Once the mixture was done soaking, I put the baking pan in the oven for 25 minutes. (For me this turned into 35 minutes, because I this one BLACK HOLE OF DEATH that refused to set properly. How it vexed me.)

Anyway! It all worked out eventually. I took the pan out of the oven, doled it out into individual bowls, and then garnished these with confectioners' sugar. Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Ginger Bread Pudding (adapted from Food Network)
1 lb 13 oz can pumpkin puree
2 cups heavy cream
4 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 loaf plain pound cake
1/4 cup crystallized ginger
1/2 cup golden raisins
Confectioners' sugar (garnish)

Crystallized ginger:
1/4 cup ginger
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water