Bread pudding is one of the all-time great comfort foods - a warm and fragrant taste of home. It's the kind of dish that was one of the weekday desserts of childhood: easy and economical to make, and always greeted with enthusiasm.
When I think of comfort foods,
bread pudding is right at the top of the list. My grandmother made bread pudding regularly - in fact, any time she had what she called "odds and ends" of bread that was a little less than fresh she turned it into a classic dessert. The bread pudding that she made was delicious, but her classic full sugar version wouldn't fit well into my current food program, so I set off on a round of searches and kitchen experiments until I came up with this sugar free version.
Sugar Free Bread Pudding
* 1 loaf's worth of bread (firm bread like French or Italian bread works great, but ordinary sliced bread will work too! And you can mix types of bread as well. Just use up what you have on hand - that's part of the magic of bread pudding)
* 1 quart of low fat milk or lite soymilk
* 3 eggs
* granulated sweetener equal to 2 cups of sugar
* 2 tablespoons vanilla
* 3 tablespoons margarine, melted
* 1 cup raisins (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9" x 13" cake pan or large baking dish. Cut or tear bread into even sized pieces (chunks about 1-1/2" work well). Put bread cubes into a large bowl and pour milk over it. Mix thoroughly (using your hands works well for this!) until the bread starts to crush up and loose its shape. Add the eggs, sweetener, vanilla, melted margarine, and raisins and continue to mix until all ingredients are even incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and bake until firm (usually about 50 minutes, but start checking at 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold - it's great topped with either of the sugar free sauces below:
Lemon Sauce
* 1 tablespoon arrowroot
* sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar
* dash of salt
* 1 cup boiling water
* 2 tablespoons diet margarine
* 1-1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1-1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon rind
* dash of nutmeg
* drop or two of yellow food coloring (optional)
Combine arrowroot, sweetener, and sweetener in saucepan and slowly add boiling water, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Remove from heat and stir in margarine, lemon juice and rind, nutmeg, and food coloring if desired. Note: while you can use either cornstarch or arrowroot in many recipes, this one will turn out best if you use arrowroot. You’ll get a sauce that’s clear and shiny!
Custard Sauce
* 2 cups nonfat milk or lite soymilk
* 2 eggs
* sweetener equal to 1-1/2 cups sugar
* 1/2 tablespoon arrowroot or cornstarch
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
Scald milk (this means heat to just below boiling) in medium saucepan. In a small bowl beat together the eggs, sweetener, arrowroot or cornstarch, and salt. Gradually add scalded milk to the ingredients in the bowl, stirring constantly. When all milk has been incorporated, return mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is slightly thickened and coats a spoon. Remove from heat and beat in extracts. Can be served warm, or you can chill it in the fridge until ready to serve.
