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.
