Holiday Bread Pudding

bread pudding ~ sweet afternoons

Holiday Bread Pudding ~ I don’t make this bread pudding too sweet  although I am a serious sweet monger.  The chocolate chips and raisins give it plenty of sweetness so much so that my husband and toddler love the resemblance of a chocolate chip cookie but in a bread pudding.  It’s so difficult passing by the bread pudding sitting on the  kitchen counter without sneaking a bite…or two…or three…

For the bread, I always use Ezekiel but the non gluten-free kind.  The reason for this is that even though I don’t tolerate gluten well, sprouted grains seem to settle fine. Having said this, the Ezekiel pecan raisin gluten-free bread works just as well.  If you do not find a raisin cinnamon gluten-free bread, just add 1/2 cup of raisins to the recipe, sprinkling them at the layering part of the recipe.

Holiday Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 10 slices of at least two-day old gluten-free cinnamon raisin bread or pecan raisin bread (Ezekiel works nicely–see note below)
• 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of cherries (fresh pitted or frozen and thawed) or  1 cup of fresh blueberries
• 1/3 cup of vegan chocolate chips
• 2 cups of almond milk (or rice milk) plus more for filling the pan
• 2  tablespoons of rum
• 3/4 cup of agave nectar plus 1/8 extra for the top
• 1/8 cup of Earth Balance spread plus extra to grease the pan

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease 9 square inch baking dish or similar sized dish.
• Break up bread slices into 6 pieces each.
• In a medium bowl, mix almond milk, vanilla extract, agave and rum.
• Lay bottom of greased dish with a layer of bread, a portion of the chocolate chips, a portion of the cherries or blueberries and pieces of the earth balance.
• Pour some of the liquid mixture until bread is covered. Repeat layering with bread and ingredients until you reach top of pan.
• Pour rest of liquid on top and with your fingers gently press down making sure bread is soaked.
• Sprinkle  the last of cinnamon, spread pieces of earth balance, sprinkle chocolate chips and drizzle the 1/8 cup of the agave.
• Cover with foil and bake for 40 -45 minutes.
• Uncover and bake another 5 minutes. The pudding should be bouncy but all the liquid should be absorbed.  You will only see the oozing of the chocolate from the chips.
• Let cool and serve at room temperature.
• Serve with a side of vanilla ice cream.
• Serves 6.