Good morning, pumpkin bread pudding
Or good night, since it would also be a delicious dessert.
Cooking
November 1, 2025

Good morning! Today we have for you:

A casserole dish holds pumpkin bread pudding with a portion scooped out.
Yossy Arefi’s pumpkin bread pudding. Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Pass me my big spoon, please

By Mia Leimkuhler

Hi, friends. I know I start many newsletters with “I love” and then a food: I love fish, I love corn, I love rice. As repetitive as that may seem, I can promise you it’s all true! I really do love a lot of food. (That’s kind of why I work here, and since you subscribe to this newsletter, I’m guessing you love a lot of food too.)

So here’s another: I love pumpkin. When my weekend allows, I’ll buy a whole kabocha, split it in half and bake it cut-side down until its kindergarten-orange flesh is soft enough to scoop into my food processor and purée into sweet smush. This way I have pumpkin to use throughout the week, in pastas, curries and so many treats.

Yossy Arefi’s pumpkin bread pudding is a part of our collection of 21 easy pumpkin desserts, but I’d absolutely eat this — or baked pumpkin doughnuts or pumpkin crumb cake — for breakfast, especially on these (relatively) calm weekends before the super fun happy slide into the holidays.

Yossy’s dish calls for an entire can (15 ounces) of pumpkin purée and a couple of tablespoons of pumpkin spice; I absolutely plan on swapping out that spice blend for something that suits my whims. Maybe a mix of cardamom and ginger? Five-spice? Or maybe Melissa Clark’s sweet baking spice, which splits the difference between pumpkin pie spice and apple pie spice. That’s something I love about pumpkin — it’s very versatile.

A ceramic bowl holds a serving of pumpkin bread pudding with cinnamon whipped cream.
Hello, gorgeous. Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Featured Recipe

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

View Recipe →

Pumpkin! Pumpkin! Pumpkin!

Article Image

Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Eugene Jho.

Pumpkin Bread

By Samantha Seneviratne

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

3,636

1 1/2 hours

Makes 1 loaf (about 10 servings)

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John Kernick for The New York Times. Food stylist: Simon Andrews.

Pumpkin Skillet Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

By Erin Jeanne McDowell

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

376

About 40 minutes

Makes 8 to 10 servings

An overhead image of a dozen brown butter pumpkin cookies. One of the cookies is split in half.

Rachel Vanni for The New York Times

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies

By Kayla Hoang

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

80

55 minutes

Makes 16 servings

Today’s specials

One-pan chicken with golden potatoes: The name of this Noor Murad recipe really tells you everything you need to know, don’t you think? The “golden” part comes from turmeric and, I’d like to think, the warmth of the cumin and paprika and the color of that crisp chicken skin. Add a pile of arugula or baby kale dressed with olive oil and lemon and dinner is done.

Sheet-pan roasted mushrooms and spinach: Is this Millie Peartree dish a simple but elegant side for pan-seared steak or salmon? Is it, spooned on top of scrambled eggs, a lovely brunch? Over toasted bread with melted cheese, is it a very nice sandwich? With cooked grains or beans tossed in, is it a hearty lunch bowl? You decide!

Cottage cheese bread: Every so often, I get the urge to bake my own bread. This is usually not inspired by any sort of proud homesteading leanings but instead by a recipe that looks and sounds so, so good. Carolina Gelen’s cottage cheese bread, with its tender crumb and added protein, is nudging me to block off time on Sunday to make my own soft, golden loaf, and I will oblige.

For a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started.

Article Image

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.

One-Pan Chicken With Golden Potatoes

By Noor Murad

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

100

2 hours 30 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Article Image

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Maggie Ruggiero.

Sheet-Pan Roasted Mushrooms and Spinach

By Millie Peartree

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

2,244

25 minutes

Makes 4 servings

Article Image

David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Hadas Smirnoff.

Cottage Cheese Bread

By Carolina Gelen

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarUnfilled Star

119

2 hours 35 minutes

Makes 10 servings

And before you go

You know how some actors make such an impression in a role that it’s hard to separate the two in your mind? That’s the case for me with Jesse Plemons and the terrifying character he played in “Breaking Bad.” (I’m also still slightly scared of Bryan Cranston.) So it’s a real relief to watch him do something as wholesome as make spaghetti and meatballs in the New York Times Cooking kitchen studio with Emma Stone. Click here or on the image below to read their interview and watch the video:

The actors Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone in a kitchen, smiling and cooking meatballs in a skillet while wearing aprons.
It’s nice that they coordinated haircuts. Taylor Miller for The New York Times

Thanks for reading!

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Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.

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Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.

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