An Autumn Harvest Breakfast Bake recipe by Lisa Jolley of Raleigh took home first-place honors and $500 Monday, Oct. 17, in the Morning Mayhem Buster: Make-ahead Breakfast Challenge presented by Superior Sleep Experience.
Gail Fuller of Raleigh took home second place and $300 for her Pancake and Sausage Breakfast Delight recipe. Callie Osterman of Holly Springs won $200 and third place for her Maple Bacon Crumble Muffin recipe.
The winning recipe follows:
Autumn Harvest Breakfast Bake
Ingredients
Waffle
- 1 3/4 cups all–purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
Bread Pudding
- 1 12-ounce package bacon, cooked
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup half & half
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- Cinnamon sugar for dusting
Instructions:
Cook bacon however you prefer, cut the cooled bacon into different sized pieces and set aside.
Waffles
*This recipe will make about 16 mini waffles (4” diameter). If your waffle iron is larger, just make as many as the batter allows.
Preheat waffle iron/waffle maker and spray with cooking spray when hot.
In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and pumpkin puree, then alternate buttermilk and melted butter, tempering to avoid scrambling the eggs. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until moist – a few lumps are Ok.
Pour batter into your waffle iron (for a mini waffle maker, 3 tablespoons is plenty; for a standard sized waffle maker, 1/3 to ½ cups, and make as many waffles as the batter will allow. Let waffles cool.
Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Cut waffle into smaller rectangles, about 1 inch by 2 inch. Arrange pieces on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10-15 minutes until crispy.
Bread Pudding
Butter a 13x9 inch baking dish and fill with the waffle pieces and 3/4 of the bacon.
In a large missing bowl, whisk eggs, half & half, sugar, vanilla, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Then alternate milk and melted butter (again to avoid scrambling eggs) until combined.
Pour mixture into the baking dish covering all the waffle pieces, top with pecans and the rest of the bacon, then finished with a LIGHT dusting of cinnamon sugar.
Cover with foil and let rest in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Bake for 1 hour with foil lightly covering the baking dish, then turn for even heating. Bake another 15 minutes (foil still on) and then remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of cooking. (90 minutes total cooking time, but check the center for doneness if your oven temperature varies.)
Cut into square and serve hot … or warm … or cold! With or without maple syrup. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container.
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