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Welcome to our #ScrumptiousSaturday post! Do you find yourself making the same tired, old recipes all the time? Let CatchyFreebies help you out with a delicious recipe that your family and your budget will love. If you have any culinary money-saving tips, we’d love for you to share them with all of us on our Facebook wall or tweet @CatchyFreebies with the hashtag #ScrumptiousSaturday.

Fall is apple season so it just makes sense to post an apple recipe. As the weather cools down, fall is also when we start craving a little comfort food, so why not incorporate apples into comfort food and create a scrumptious apple bread pudding? Perfect! And talk about delicious and economical! Apples are plentiful at great prices in the fall, and bread pudding is the best way to use up extra bread that would otherwise find it’s way to the garbage. Here is a recipe for Spiced Caramel-Apple Bread Pudding from Southern Living that has some extra warmth from cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s pretty easy to put together, so you’ll have time to make the Toasted Pecan-Caramel Sauce to serve with it.

Spiced Caramel-Apple Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 (16-oz.) Italian bread loaf, cut into bite-size pieces
Vegetable cooking spray
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1 cup apple cider
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Toasted Pecan-Caramel Sauce

Directions:

1. Sauté apple and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon in a lightly greased skillet over medium-high heat 2 minutes or until tender. Stir together bread and apple in an 11- x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
2. Whisk together eggs, milk, apple cider, brown sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and remaining 1/4 tsp. cinnamon; pour over bread mixture in baking dish. Cover and chill 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake bread mixture 45 to 50 minutes or until top is crisp and golden brown. Serve warm.

This bread pudding is delicious as is, so enjoy it on it’s own if you want to save some time and calories. But for some extra wow factor, serve it with Toasted Pecan-Caramel Sauce.

Toasted Pecan-Caramel Sauce:

Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 1/2 teaspoons butter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Bake pecans in a single layer in a shallow pan 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant.
2. Sprinkle sugar in an even layer in a small saucepan. Stir together syrup and 1/3 cup water, and pour over sugar in saucepan. Cook, without stirring, over medium-high heat 12 to 14 minutes or until sugar is dissolved and mixture is golden.
3. Remove from heat. Gradually whisk in evaporated milk. (Mixture will bubble.) Stir in butter and toasted pecans.

What are your favorite apple recipes for fall? Share with us by commenting on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag.