Make It Natural: Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding

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Ashley, one of our blog readers, sent us a request to make over her grandmother's famous bread pudding recipe, complete with a decadent bourbon sauce. We accepted the challenge to lighten up this comforting favorite.Check out the recipe we developed for Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding opens in a new tab.Here are the changes we made to our lightened up version of traditional bread pudding:

  • The original recipe called for both heavy whipping cream and whole milk, so we substituted 1% low fat milk for these, resulting in a significant reduction in calories, fat, saturated fat and cholesterol. When you consider that 1 cup of heavy whipping cream contains 821 calories and 88 grams of fat, and 1 cup of whole milk contains 146 calories and 8 grams of fat, and you compare that to 1 cup of 1% low fat milk containing 102 calories and just 2 grams of fat, you can see that's a heck of a healthy savings! It's true that with a rich recipe like this, making the switch to the lower fat, lower calorie option yields a less decadent product, but no less delicious!

  • The original recipe calls for cinnamon raisin bread, which is traditionally made with bleached white flour. Our delicious, healthy version bakes whole grain cinnamon raisin bread into a delicious pudding. This increases the fiber, vitamin and mineral content of the recipe.

  • We opted to omit the rich bourbon sauce topping which contains bourbon, sugar and butter. Doing so allowed us to create a lighter, version of this traditional treat that can be enjoyed every day! How about serving a fresh colorful fruit salad alongside instead?

Did you miss the recipe link above? Here is the full recipe for our Whole Grain Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding opens in a new tab.Got a recipe that needs a natural makeover? Post it in the comments section below! If we select your recipe and publish the improved version on our website, we'll send you a $25 Whole Foods Market gift card.

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